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microfiches 
(monographies) 


lii 


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©1995 


Ttchnical  and  KMiofrapliie  Notn  /  Noln  tMhniquM  n  biWiogriptiiqiMf 


Tht  Imtltutt  hn  •tumpMd  to  obtain  th*  tarn  orifiral 
copy  naiMilt  for  lllmint.  Fonurai  of  this  copy  KiMdi 
may  bt  MWiognphicaNy  uniqiM.  which  may  ahar  any 
ol  iha  iinatat  in  tha  raproduction.  ir  which  may 
■iinificantiv  change  tha  luual  mathod  of  filminf,  an 
chacfcad  balow. 


QColourad  ca¥an/ 
CouMftura  da  coulaur 


r~~|  Conn  danufid/ 


Coumrtura  andommaiia 

Conn  raitond  and/or  laminatad/ 
Counrtun  mtauria  at/ou  pallieuMa 

Conr  titia  mining/ 

La  titra  da  coimrtiin  manqua 


D 


Canat  gtogiaphiqim  an  coulaur 


with  other  matarial/ 
anc  d'airaai  documanti 


QColourad  inli  (i.a.  other  than  talua  or  Maekl/ 
Encn  da  coulaur  li.a.  autre  qua  Maua  ou  noln 

□  Coloured  platei  and/or  illustrationi/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  coulaur 

□  Bound  wi^ 
Reli«  asac 

□  Ti^t  binding  mar  rtusa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  intariar  margin/ 

La  rallun  serrie  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  la  long  de  la  marge  intirieun 

□  Blank  leant  added  during  restoration  may  vpaar 
within  the  text  Whenenr  potsiMa.  these  han 
been  omitted  from  'ilming/ 
II  te  peut  que  certaines  pages  Wanchet  eioutiet 
lors  d'una  resteuration  appereissent  dans  la  texta, 
mais.  lorsque  cela  Mait  possible,  cas  pages  n'ont 
pet  Mi  filmies. 


n 


Additionel  comments:/ 
Commentairet  tupplimentaires: 


This  item  is  filmed  el  the  reduction  retio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  f  ilm<  eu  teu>  de  reduction  indiqut  ei-dessout. 


L'Institut  a  microf  ikni  le  meilleur  exemplr're  qu'il 
luiaMpostJMedeteprocL.er.  Les  dMails  da  cat 
axamplain  qui  sunt  peut-fttre  uniques  du  point  de  vue 
I.  qui  paueant  modifier  una  image 
.  ou  qui  paunnt  axiger  una  modif  ication 
dans  la  mMhnda  normje  de  f ihnaga  tont  indiquis 
ci-dessous. 


Cohiurad  pegri/ 


□  CohM 
Pages 


□  Pag>s  restored  end/or  tamkuted/ 
Pages  rastaurtes  at/ou  paHicuMes 

0  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  dicolorias,  tachatias  ou  piquies 

□  Pages  detached/ 
Pages  dtochies 

QShowthrough/ 
Transparence 

□  Ouelity  of  print  >ariet/ 
I 


n 


I  Queliti  inigele  de  I'impression 

Continuous  pegination/ 
in  continue 


□  Includes  indexlesi/ 
Comprend  un  (des)  index 

Title  on  heedar  taken  from:  / 
Le  titn  de  ren-ttte  prosient: 


□  Title  page  of 
Page  de  litre 

I       I  Caption  of  issue/ 


issue/ 

de  le  livretion 


Titn  de  dipert  de  le  liyreiton 

Masthead/ 

Ginirique  Ipiriodiques)  de  le  livreison 


I       I  Mesthead/ 


10X 

14X 

1IX 

22X 

2«X 

Xx 



\J    1 

— r— 
1 

n 

n 

^2x 

1CX 

aox 

2*X 

nx 

i— J 

L_J 

15  » 

Tha  copy  flimad  hara  has  baan  rapreduead  thank* 
to  tha  ganarotlty  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'axamplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grlca  i  la 
gAntroait*  da: 

Blbllothique  natlonala  du  Canada 


Tha  imagaa  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
poaalbia  eoniidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibllity 
of  tha  original  copy  and  In  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apocif Icatlona. 


La*  imaga*  aulvantas  ont  ttt  raproduitai  avac  la 
plu*  grand  *oin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattai*  da  I'aaamplaira  film*,  at  an 
conformM  avac  la*  condition*  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 


Original  cepia*  in  printad  papar  eovara  ara  flimod 
baginning  with  ttM  front  covar  and  andlng  en 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  Impraa- 
*ion.  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  baginning  en  tha 
firat  paga  whh  a  printad  or  llluatratad  impraa- 
aien,  and  andlng  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  llluatratad  impraaaion. 


Laa  aaamplalraa  originaun  dont  la  eouvartura  an 
papiar  aat  Imprimda  *ont  fllmi*  an  commancant 
par  la  premier  plot  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darnWre  page  qui  comporte  une  empraint* 
d'Impraaaion  ou  d'illuatratlon,  *oit  par  la  second 
plat.  **lon  le  caa.  Tous  la*  autraa  aaemplaira* 
originaui  aont  fllma*  an  commancant  par  la 
premiere  pege  qui  comporte  une  emprainta 
d'Impraeaien  ou  d'llluotration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  demitre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  laat  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
ahell  contain  tha  lymboi  —^  Imeening  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  lymbol  ▼  Imeening  "END"), 
whichever  appliaa. 


Un  da*  *vmbole*  (uivent*  apparaltra  «ur  la 
dernlAre  imege  de  cheque  microfiche,  talon  I* 
ca*:  le  *ymbole  ^»  eignifie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
eymbole  V  eignifie  "FIN". 


Mep*.  plate*,  chart*,  etc..  mey  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratio*.  Thoaa  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  expoaure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  comer,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bonom.  a*  many  frame*  ■* 
required.  The  following  diagram*  illuanata  the 
method: 


le*  canaa.  pianche*.  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  itre 
fllmto  A  de*  taux  de  reduction  different*. 
Loraque  le  document  e*t  trop  grand  pour  itre 
reproduit  en  un  *eul  cllchi.  il  e*t  flime  1  partir 
da  I'lngia  aupArieur  gauche,  de  geuche  1  droita, 
at  de  haut  en  be*,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'Imege*  neceeaaire.  La*  diagramma*  (uivant* 
lllu*trent  la  methoda. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

MKROCOPr   RHOUJTION   TBT   OMtT 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


1.1 


la  123 

|Z5 

|Z2 

■  on 

1.8 


mi^t^ 


A  y^PPLIED  IIVMGE    Inc 

S^  1053  East  Wain  SIrMt 

KS  RochMtcr,  New  Yorti        14609       USA 

^S  (7^^)  ^2  -  0300  -  Phone 

^S  (716)  288  -  5989  -  Fox 


)%4^i/^y 


/^// 


AFTER 
THE    CATACLYSM 

A  Romance  of  the  Age  to  Come 

BT 

H.  PERCY  BLANCHARD 


Cochrane  Publishing  CoD<pany 

New  York 

1909 


Copyright,   igog, 
■y 

COCHIAME  PUBUSBINC  Cft 


^09410403 


Foreword 


This  story,  all  but  the  last  two  chapters  was  writ- 
ten in  the  fall  of  the  year  1900.  The  fiyi  machine 
was  a  mere  theory.  Wireless  telegraphy  had  just 
been  invented  by  Marconi,  but  the  idea  of  "tunii;g"  it, 
had  not  been  then  hit  upon.  The  Automobile  was  ao 
much  a  toy  in  1900  that  its  world-wide  utilization  in 
the  near  future  had  not  impressed  the  public,  nor  yet 
its  supersedure  as  a  pleasure  conveyance  again  in  its 
turn  by  the  Aeroplane. 

So  many  of  the  things  pictured  in  1900  as  still  to 
come  have,  in  the  short  eight  years  since,  been  real- 
ized; so  many  social  and  economic  forces  have  been 
moving  and  inclining  in  the  direction  anticipated  by 
this  Story,  the  temptation  has  become  irresistible  to 
finish  the  same  as  at  first  intended  and  publish  it. 

The  Wkiter. 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

A   ROMANCE  OP  THE  AGE  TO  COMS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


It  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

For  such  a  City  as  Rochester,  the  streets  could  well 
be  called  deserted. 

The  light  top  coat  that  I  had  thrown  on  to  cover 
my  dress  suit  was  none  too  warm,  though  it  was  yet 
early  in  September  of  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  one. 

The  swinging  rhythm  of  a  two-step  that  lingered 
on  my  memory,  unconsciously  kept  beat  with  my 
own  brisk  stride  as  my  thoughts  pursued  their  un- 
checked wanderings  amid  the  realms  of  vanity. 

True,  it  was  time  that  a  bachelor  of  thirty-three 
should  begin  to  take  life  somewhat  seriously,  and  yet 
it  was  only  that  very  evening  that  a  bright-eyed  maid 
of  seventeen  had  told  me  that  1  would  never  fall  in 
love  with  any  girl  till  first  my  flute  had  jilted  me.  I 
recalled  with  an  inward  smile  her  answer,  when  I  told 
her  that  my  sweetheart  always  sang  to  me  when  I 
touched  her  lips  to  mine : — "Oh !  then  you  must  be  en- 
gaged." Then  I  remembered  that  the  dear  child 
5 


APTBR  THE  CATACLYSM. 

was  just  seventeen ;  which  thought  for  some  illogical 
reason  provoked  another  smile. 

But  rudely  enough  were  my  pleasing  reveries  Inter- 
rupted. 

Suddenly,  some  three  blocks  down  the  street,  the 
Station  doors  of  the  unsleeping  fire  brigade  slammed 
open ;  and  at  the  magic  instant,  out  through  the  huge 
portals  dashed  the  full  armed  chariots  of  the  fire 
fighters. 

"Fire !  Fire !"  the  bursting  horsehoofs  yelled  as  the 
iron  shod  feet  rang  down  the  echoing  pavement. 

"Fire!  Fire!"  clanged  eagerly  the  dingle  of  the 
engfine's  warning  bell. 

On  sped  the  roaring  fire-throated  steamer  and  the 
rattling  reels ;  on  and  away,  as  they  galloped  past  me, 
and  swirled  in  the  glare  of  the  electric  light  around  a 
corner  in  the  foreground. 

Here  and  there  windows  opened ;  and,  with  that  in- 
born curiosity  to  see  a  conflagration  that  all  of  us  pos- 
sess, I  changed  my  rapid  walk  into  a  run,  and  hurried 
along  in  the  wake  of  the  engines. 

It  was  apparent  to  me,  as  soon  as  I  turned  the  cor- 
ner, that  serious  business  was  in  hand  for  some  that 
night. 

A  crowd  had  already  gathered.  How,  whence,  and 
on  whose  alarm,  remains  a  constantly  recurring  mys- 
tery; but  the  pavement  was  black  with  a  dense 
throng  of  men,  women,  and  even  little  children. 
Some,  half  clad,  evidenced  the  hurry  with  which  they 
had  left  their  beds. 

6 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM. 

As  another  steamer  came  galloping  up,  the  assem- 
blage opened,  swallowed  the  glittering  engine,  then 
closed  again. 

All  eyes  were  turned  to  a  row  of  stone-fronted 
buildings,  six  or  seven  stories  high,  upon  which  the 
nozzles  were  pouring  water.  Out  of  the  lower  flat 
the  grocery  and  retail  stocks  were  being  hurried,  in 
face  of  the  enemy  already  in  possession.  Three  of 
the  buildings  were  now  a  mass  of  flame,  and  it  was 
a  foregone  conclusion  that  the  comer  store  would  ul- 
timately go. 

Wisely,  most  of  the  brigade  were  moving  west- 
ward to  out-flank  destruction,  leaving  those  in  the 
fatal  grasp  to  meet  their  doom. 

The  ladders  had  sought  first  this  and  then  another 
window ;  and,  as  the  firemen  brought  down  the  fright- 
ened inmates,  one  by  one,  the  generous  cheer  betok- 
ened the  crowd's  appreciation.  At  'i&i,  presumably, 
all  had  been  rescued,  and  the  multitude  relapsed  into 
quietude  to  watch  destruction  work  its  will. 

One  building  had  already,  amid  an  exploding  fusil- 
lade of  flame,  collapsed ;  and  its  neighbor  seemed  soon 
to  follow. 

Then,  rising  high  above  the  tumult  of  the  conflagra- 
tion, a  roar  that  was  not  the  voice  of  the  fire  fiend, 
swelled  up  from  the  horrified  spectators. 

Far  up  at  the  fifth  story  window  of  the  comer 
building  appeared  the  bloodless  face  of  an  old  man  of 
may-be  eighty.  His  long  white  beard,  his  terror 
stricken  eyes; — the  multitude  held  their  breath. 


AFTBR  THE  CATACLYSM 

caught  sigS^  tLti- /rL'''Lr?J "!? 

wide  red  war  *,«-.  u-     i  ,  ™*  officer.    A 

caused  i;"  Xt '1*17'''  '"'^S  ""  '="*'•' 
«ight  he  had  brS  two  cW^ri^t'  *"'* 
upper  window;  the  one  TmeZZrt^/'T  T 
upon  his  shoulder  "pi^ey-back  "  thf^??  *"'"''^ 
haired  sister,  wrapped^ndefthl  fir  ''•'  ^'**'" 
ann.  Then  the  man  retu^ed  and  heCd  H  '^""""^ 
safety  the  mother  of  the  little  on' s  '       ''°""  *° 

hooks  into  the  sSPof' the  w.'h'^""^''*  *'"'  '°"« 
der  by  ,a,  J.  t'  Slii^rs't;  eth^U'?'  l'**' 

:^a^Se^s?:^r^?Sr9^ 

tSte^r  rf.r  ^^--^   -  -."Seran'i 

bern'/en-a^rtrrralZ^^^^^^^  ^ h^  "'"^^"^"^ 
out  a  hand  to  assist  acrossTh.  ^' '"^/«^**="«=^  PUts 
ledge  the  old  man.  theHrthe   X-S  VT^ 

"I  daie  not!" 
"Come,  hurry!" 

8 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

"No,  not  on  that  little  ladder,  it  will  not  hold  us." 

"  Come,  I  will  carry  you- " 

So  the  crowd  interpret  the  move  and  gesture  on 
that  dizzy  stage. 

The  old  man  looks  behind  him  at  the  smoke  already 
enveloping  him,  looks  down  into  the  street  so  far  be- 
low, and  shuddering  draws  back  again. 

The  impatient  fireman  says  something,  and  reaches 
out  as  if  to  seize  and  take  the  faithless  old  man  by 
force ;  but  the  long  white  beard  evades  him  and  steps 
back,  as  crash  I  the  burning  floors  give  way,  and  a  life 
goes  out  in  the  fire-unquenchable  of  that  roaring 
abyss. 

At  the  same  instant,  the  attention  of  the  horrified 
crowd  is  arrested  by  a  nearer  peril  that  threatens  their 
own  safety.  Panic  stricken  the  closer  ones  surge 
back  as  they  see  the  front  wall,  weakened  by  the 
collapsed  interior,  slowly  sway  and  stagger,  and,  buck- 
ling at  a  little  above  mid-height,  crumble  and  fall  into 
the  ruins,  while  the  overhanging  top  and  coping  hurls 
itself  resistlessly  to  the  pavement  below.  The  inter- 
vening network  of  electric  wires  are  sent  flying  in 
every  direction.  That  one  of  the  arc  light  cables, 
spluttering  its  vicious  fire  at  every  fellow  wire  it 
touched,  swished  past  my  face  and  flashed  upon  me 
one  unearthly  blaze  of  deadly  light,  I  know;  of  all 
thereafter,  I  know  nothing. 


CHAPTER  II. 


ti«d,  what  dicir  the  oirr""r  ^"^  '^^•"''- 

With  a  great  blank  -^  thir/J7"^'"  ^""'"^  •»«*• 
would  tfx  his  Zl 'il  .  ^  °*'''  y""  '"  ""y  We.  it 

time,"which  liLe  the  "^^  '"'"""^"  '"'  "  """^  °f 
in  har  Jn"r  a  d  to  kJo  '"?  .°'  -"^ecutive  fifths 
stage  setting  ''"  °"*  °^  *''«  «"'  principles  of 

stn^c?;t:':hi^^;;'  a?d7er:he"^  "  ^°"«-  '"-^" 
grapple  with  the  fact's  a"  hi  best'^caT '""  ''^""^^^'^ 

^uifLXz«7btrrd^r^^^^^  ^*-'''^<'  - 

cept  as  to  my  eves  mn.  .t  .  '***  •=0'»pletely.  cx- 
inches  of  damp  Sy  '  *"'  "°""'^'  ^"t"  ^  ^^w 

kindTy1t'rer„trtJo°°f  ^  ^^^^  »*  ^  -"'^ 
interested  in  whS  rnoearrH  ^k'""'  ^"'"■"g'y  "uch 
in  which  I  offidaS/rrSe  unw''  '"  '^Periment.  and 
"  We  were  ricrh?  "nwitting  subject, 

vvc  were  nght  in  our  conjectures  "  „k»        ^    . 
elder,  and  then  added    'To    v  '  /''Served  the 

mantle. "  '      ^°'  ^"'''   »nd  bring  me  a 

In  a  few  minutes  the  woman  addressed  returned 
10  ' 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

fetching  a  large  woolen  shawl  or  rug,  and  then,  at  a 
si  ,'n  from  the  man  who  had  first  spoken,  she  retired. 

The  man  stood  watching  me  for  a  few  minutes, 
placed  his  hand  on  my  nostrils,  and  then  as  if  satis- 
fied, began  slowly  to  remove  the  clay  that  covered 
me. 

Having  released  me,  he  wrapped  the  rug  about  my 
nude  thin  body ;  and  with  a  strength  that  surprised  me, 
lifted  me  as  one  would  a  child,  and  gently  carried  me 
to  a  divan,  pillowed  beneath  the  shelter  of  what 
seemed  a  large  summer-house  or  verandah. 

I  gave  little  thought  to  my  surroundings.  When 
the  burden  of  clay  lay  on  me,  my  cold  body  had  nei- 
ther inclination  nor  ability  to  breathe,  but  as  a  wel- 
come warmth  commenced  to  suffuse  my  numb  mus- 
cles, my  chest  began  to  expand  in  response  to  the 
desire  for  air.  At  the  beginning,  the  inspiration  filled 
my  lungs  without  much  discomfort,  but  it  was  mainly 
from  a  want  of  sensation,  for,  as  soon  as  the  heat 
and  vitality  increased,  each  inhalation  of  even  that 
luxuriously  soft  atmosphere  gave  me  intense  pain. 

The  man  who  had  been  watching  over  me  put  water 
to  my  lips  and  I  drank  eagerly  of  the  refreshing  fluid 
to  appease  my  now  burning  thirst.  I  tried  to  thank 
him,  but  the  unanswering  muscles  failed  to  produce 
a  sound. 

He  brought  and  threw  over  me  a  second  coverlet, 
and  as  my  eyes  followed  his  retreating  form,  my  mind 
wandered  off  into  the  land  of  forgetfulness. 

It  was  apparently  noon-day  when  I  awoke  from  a 
11 


^FTER   THE  CATACLYSM 


•ound  and  refreshing  sleep.  I  f-it  hi,. 
come  out  of  the  lone  sleeo  th,f  .  °"*  *''°  ''" 
a  fever;  weak,  anSyet  stfe^tth  T,  *"*  ""*'"  °^ 
my  faculties  restored  '*'*"8^''*««' •  ^"ble.  but  all 
The  girl,  whom  I  had  seen  first  in  n.. 

Forty-eight  or  fifty  hours.  » 
out  where  is  this?" 

fir"'"*"' """™"' " "  •»■*  .ubi„„  w.„ 

cat. "  *"'  ''""g  you  something  to 

As  she  disappeared  around  a  vin- -„ 
her  picture  still  lingered  with  me  ""*-=°""«''  *«"«> 

ure  fa?;i;°[J,  .'':?rair''r'  ^  "*»''  -«  '"  «tat- 

%"re   had  Just^lX t       mtcul"  '^T^- "    "" 
8:'ve  her  an  easy  grace  L^  •    development   to 

masculine  or  flelhfb^t  vet '°T°"'  '*^*"^'''  "°t 
feeoleness  or  frailty  A  d^ ;  .  /°  «"ggestio„  of 
'ent  to  her  comp,e2o„  a  ttf ofheSrhT  l'  ."^"'"^ 
vivacity  of  blue-ffrav  ev«  I"^""*"'  *«  which  the 
mouth  gave  willing  verf£io "  tT'""^  «^*"«='-°« 
such  rare  faces  and  CrThlr     u"^  '"*"  ^  ^*^ 

-thing  Of  simpiicitn5^s;s,*!::SiiSc: 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

about  her  expression,  that  my  mind  confessed  to  me 
as  new. 

Her  dress,  though  charmingly  in  harmony  with  its 
wearer,  was  slightly  startling. 

I  recalled  in  a  hazy  way  pieces  of  Grecian  statuary 
I  had  seen.  The  material,  a  kind  of  jersey  cloth  of  a 
silky  fleeciness  like  finest  wool,  soft,  and  yet  with  sub- 
stance, draped  the  undulating  figure  to  the  feet.  The 
left  arm  was  fairly  covered,  yet  not  encumbered, 
with  the  abundant  cloth,  but  the  right  arm  and  shoul- 
der were  bare  and  free.  In  color,  a  creamy  white, 
the  tint  of  the  robe  made  a  gently  pleasing  contrast 
to  the  darker  shade  of  her  abundant  hair. 

But  not  very  long  did  the  subject  of  my  meditation 
leave  me  to  pursue  my  mental  observations. 

With  an  expression  of  mock  solemnity  upon  her 
laughing  mouth,  she  held  her  finger  up  impressively 
and  delivered  her  message : 

"  My  father  says  you  are  to  have  nothing  to  eat, " 
and  as  she  paused  amused  at  the  woeful  effect  her 
words  produced  upon  my  falling  countenance,  she 
added,  "  but  that  I  may  give  you  a  little  of  this  to 
dnnk, "  and,  suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  she  on 
one  knee  beside  me,  raised  my  head  and  held  a  temp- 
ting goblet  to  my  lips. 

As  the  welcome  vitalizing  fluid,  of  a  body  like  a 

syrup,  yet  with  a  decidedly  fruit-like  flavor,  reached 

my  grateful  throat,  a  peculiar  smile  that  I  could  not 

repress  prompted  the  girl  to  ask  its  reason. 

It  seemed  so  absurd,  and  yet  that  taste  had  carried 

13 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

me  back  to  my  boyhood.  The  teacher's  interrogation 
as  to  what  was  meant  by  the  nectar  of  the  Gods,  re- 
curred to  me,  and  my  perfectly  earnest  answer,  that 
nectar  was  probably  made  from  the  juice  of  cherry 
preserves  mixed  with  honey. 

When  I  related  the  incident  then  to  Vera,  she 
aoberly  remarked.  "  Who  knows,  perhaps  you  were 
nght. 

When  I  all  too  soon  drained  the  wax-like  goblet,  I 
noticed  perhaps  in  grim  contrast  with  the  fair  arm 
near  me,  that  my  own  skin  was  still  coated  with 
scales  of  mud.  The  girl  at  the  sar.,e  time  read  my 
thought,  and  as  if  in  apology  said: 

"  Yes,  you  are  muddy,  but  my  father  did  not  think 
It  wise  to  disturb  your  rest.  But  now,  if  you  think 
you  can  walk,  we  will  try  to  see  what  a  bath  can  do.  " 
The  under-robe  still  wrapped  around  me,  was  pre- 
canous  covering.  However,  desperately  clutching  my 
garment  I  managed  with  assistance  to  get  upon  my 
feet  and  with  Vera's  helping  arm  around  r^,  ,^1 
gered,  rather  then  walked  forward 

JLtT*J  "^-^t  •'■*  '•P*'*  ^'"^  *"^«*y  of  some 
gutter-painted  inebriate  in  the  embrace  of  the  gentle 

f  next  I  met  His  Honor's  greeting  of:    "Four  dol- 
lars, or  twenty  days.    Next !  " 

,Zf  ""^  *'°"^  *•""  stone-paved  floor,  and  through 
some  airy  apartments,  we  came  to  a  small  room 
stone-paved  hke  the  others,  and  wit.,  two  little  bTs' 
or  square  cisterns  cut  in  the  floor.  The  water  entered 
14 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

at  the  left  into  the  first  recess,  then  into  the  second 
pool,  and  then  disappeared. 

It  was  a  charming  little  place,  more  like  a  natural 
grotto  than  a  work  of  art.  Large  uncut  stones  piled 
on  each  other,  formed  the  walls,  and  in  the  interstices, 
vines  and  flowers  grew  unrestrained.  A  rustic,  but 
yet  weather-proof  roof,  closed  out  the  sky. 

Vera  seemed  amused  at  my  dismayed  survey  of 
the  clinging  clay  that  festooned  my  bony  arms,  and 
as  she  went  out,  she  turned  to  caution  me  not  to 
stand  still  too  long,  or  I  might  begin  to  throw  out 
roots  and  grow. 

It  did  not  take  me  long  to  give  the  second  pool  a 
color  like  my  own.  Then  on  my  transfer  to  the  upper 
bath,  I  managed  finally,  after  much  prospecting,  to 
pre-empt  myself.  It  was  only  a  slight  exertion ;  yet, 
tired  but  clean,  it  was  a  pleasure  to  sit  down  on  the 
basin  edge  to  rest. 

Just  as  I  had  gone  through  the  process  of  an  "  at- 
mospheric dry, "  I  heard  Vera's  light  step  approach- 
ing. The  door  opened.  Then  around  its  corner  the 
hand  and  arm  of  the  undisclosed  owner  appeared ;  and, 
with  a  quick  throw,  a  clean  soft  robe  dropped  to  the 
floor  beside  me,  and  again  the  door  closed. 

It  was  a  matter  of  some  study  to  me  to  decide  how 
to  put  the  thing  on. 

As  I  held  it  up,  the  garment  seemed  to  be  made  of 
a  large  square  of  goods,  folded  comerwise.    The  diag- 
onal was  about  a  yard  longer  than  my  height.    The 
matched  edges  on  one  side  were  sewn  together  to 
15 


y^t  arm  .„d  .ho„  der  th  J    u  **"'  "^  ^ead  .„d 
o'  point  fell  „«„r,ii„  Z   h!  1 7    '  ""*  *°P  «ten.ion 

extended  to  a  little  above  th/L  ^™"*'  ">«  »e«ni 

ou.  draper,  «-.mewh.t  e„fX"  h '  ?"  *"'  ^°'"™' " 

but  th«*r;a?;;  rhji^tr  '"'""^ ''"««'; 

"'in  style,  ,„d  so,  well.  wh.J  Z  '"""'  '*  »"""<'  «<» 
.  I  Muntered  out  in  mv  h^,   ,      *  mattered? 
«"«•»  ..  .  decided  "tSessn  ""'■  "•'"  "  """^h  JW 
•P'te  of  my  bravado  S;„/;""'"*.''  "•"  '««4.  ^n 
comings.  P"'"'""y  conscious  of  my  short- 

Vera  and  her  fath- 
randah.^^      "" /.the.  were  waiting  fo,  ^^  o„  the  ve- 
Oh. "  she  said   "  r  /_ 

16 


^Pter  the  cataclysm 

I.  ?Tfu  '**'  *•*'  •'^°'  *•'•*=''  *"  velvet-like,  uid 
had  .ii  5,!:  **°  T'  ']"'•"«"«'<=  «>"»iiieM.  the  fruit 
M?  Wh  ?  ?!,  "  '^J?'  '""  «PPe.r.nce;  .nd  when 
Mr.  White  asked  me  if  I  recognized  it,  I  quoted  in  the 
clMiic  Italian  of  the  festive  D«go:  ««  "»  «e 

"  He-le-a.  He-Ie-a,  le  lipe  pin  Bananio.  " 
It  need  not  be  denied  that  I  was  very  curious  to 
Jeam  my  position  and  surroundings;  but  to  all  mv 
q  estionings,  both  Mr.  White  and  Vera  smiled  a  polite 
rehisal.  though  with  the  implied  promise  of  a  byrand 


17 


r 


CHAPTER  III. 


A  WEEK  of  sleep  and  quiet  lounging,  interspersed 
with  meals  and  happy  chatter,  that  seemed  to  do  me 
equal  good,  passed  by. 

The  delightful  spring-like  air,  the  steady  sunny 
weather,  with  only  heavy  mid-night  dew  to  give  the 
needed  moisture,  sent  into  my  bones  new  energy  and 
vigor. 

"  You  have  been  wondering,  as  I  would  judge  by 
your  so  far  unanswered  questions,  what  i;  the  ex- 
planation of  your  peculiar  position?  That  it  is  pecu- 
liar, cannot  be  denied. " 

I  nodded,  but  my  silence  spoke  the  eagerness  with 
which  I  looked  for  the  answer.  Mr.  White  without 
waiting  proceeded : 

"  You  may  be  surprised  to  know  that  this  is  the 
month  of  January  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  (as  perhaps 
you  were  accustomed  to  designate  it)  nineteen  hun- 
dred ar.i.  thirty-four.  I  do  not  know  what  the  date 
was  when  you  ceased  consciousness.  " 

"  Nineteen  hundred  and  one.  " 

"  Yes,  I  supposed  about  then.  Last  week  when  my 
daughter  was  working  in  her  garden,  the  earth  sud- 
denly subsided  under  her  feet,  making  a  hollow  on 
the  surface  that  at  once  arrested  our  attention.  It 
18 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
was  more  a  matter  of  curiosity  than  any  expectation 
of  advantage  that  prompted  me  to  investigate.  At 
my  daughter's  earnest  solicitation  (here  Vera  nodded 
at  me  her  corroboration)  I  dug  away  the  earth. 
About  a  foot  below  the  surface,  we  came  upon  some 
bits  of  rotten  board;  and  to  shorten  the  story,  we 
found  that  the  coffin  in  which  you  had  seemingly  been 
buried,  had,  except  where  the  glass  over  the  face  had 
partly  preserved  the  wood,  so  decayed  as  to  let  the 
earth  fall  in  upon  your  body. 

"  We  were  amazed  to  find  that  although  the  clothing 
had  rotted  and  disappeared,  your  body  was  in  perfect 
preservation-  There  was  no  re?,;iration.  Was  it  life, 
— or  death  ?  Yet  if  the  first, — how  was  consciousness 
to  be  restored? 

"  To  the  mystery,  the  innumerable  reddish  blue  spots 
on  your  face,  which  still  give  you  probably  some 
discomfort,  suggested  a  solution.  In  any  event  the 
experiment  was  worth  trying.  On  the  presumption 
that  you  had  been  shocked  by  a  heavy  discharge  of 
mechanical  electricity — " 

"  Yes,  it  was  from  a  broken  arc  light  wire,  I  expect." 

"  Exactly.  On  that  presumption  we  knew  that,  pro- 
vided the  nerve  system  had  not  been  actually  burned 
out,  the  reception  by  the  body  of  a  heavy  electric  dis- 
charge would  induce  unconsciousness,  to  continue 
until  the  magnetic  influences  of  the  fluid  were  with- 
drawn. At  the  same  time,  a  suspension  of  all  motion, 
including  an  arrest  of  disintegration,  would  be  created ; 
in  that  every  organic  atom  would  be  held  in  magnetic 
19 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
tension  so  long  as  the  corporeal  battery  continued 
charged  It  remained  to  so  withdraw  the  influence 
gradually  that  the  tissues  would  naturally  rebound 
and  assume  their  normal  muscular  pulsations  in  re- 
action from  the  molecular  rigi,?icy.  Acting  upon  this 
reasonmg,  .t  was  but  the  work  of  a  few  minutes  to 
loosen  some  surface  clay,  place  your  body  on  it,  and 
except  for  your  nostrils,  cover  you  with  a  few  inches 
of  damp  earth.  This  treatment,  in  many  instances 
when  people  were  injured  in  using  the  unrefined  fluid, 
has  succeeded. 

"You  will  comprehend  that,  although  you  had  been 
under  ground  many  years,  not  until  the  coflin  had 
broken  and  the  soil  caved  in  on  you  that  day.  had  the 
clay  come  m  direct  contact  with  your  body,  and  direct 
actual  contact  is  essential.  If.  when  the  earth  fell  in 
no  acfon  had  been  taken,  the  electricity  holding  your 
v.tahty  m  suspension  would  soon  have  been  dissfpated. 
and  then,  without  recovering  consciousness,  you  would 
have  been  repulsated.  next,  suffocated,  and  finally  in 
the  fullest  sense  dead,  upon  which,  of  course,  putre- 
faction would  undoubtedly  have  ensued. 

For  about  twenty-four  hours,  though  keeping  a 
close  watch  over  you,  we  left  you  in  your  damply 
application,  and  were  at  last  rewarded  by  your  re^ 
gaining  consciousness,  and  becoming  as  you  now  are 
our  ven.  welcome  guest.  Perhaps  I  have^old  yl  aj 
much  at  present  as  your  renascent  mind  can  easily 

Mr.  White  stopped,  and  although  my  curiosity  was 
20 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

far  from  satisfied,  I  restrained  with  some  effort  further 
questionings.  But  I  could  not  resist  asking  if,  where 
we  were,  was  not  the  outskirts  of  Rochester. 

"  Yes,  it  is  plainly  apparent  that  our  garden  covers 
part  of  wh;  •  was  the  Suburban  Cemetery  of  that  city. 
Out  there  is  probably  the  very  spot  where  you  were 
originally  interred,  unless— but  never  mind,  we  will 
discuss  that  again." 


21 


CHAPTER  IV. 

been  outside  the  sS  In  kT'""'' ^ '''''' "«ver 
host.  I  .ay  in^r  t^LTtf  ""'"  °^  "^ 
«y  time,  even  of  the  d.v  ^  ^'■*'^*  P«"  of 

defence  of  this  iL  „ess   U  Tan  T"*  '■:.  ^''"P'  ""*'  '" 

.™wi.  b„i,o„/  :■  i:'t,i, ;?  ,r '"°''  .'■"  '■«'• 
»",, .  w... ,:  ";Vw";v°™  '""""^  •«■"- 

--«---^.u';.s::;;:Vb:;c„»iL« 

22 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

exceed  in  area  the  ground-floor  of  a  large  sized  man- 
sion. 

Except  for  a  mass  of  brilliant  bloom  on  a  high  slop- 
ing bank  in  the  left  foreground,  nothing  at  all  corres- 
ponded to  the  type  of  landscape  gardening  with  which 
I  was  familiar. 

The  delicate  beauty  of  the  picture  was  in  part  se- 
cured by  a  certain  ruggedness  of  groundwork  and  a 
subdued  brown  of  rock  and  leaf  which  formed  the 
undertint,  over  which  was  draped  and  contrasted 
daintiest  palms  and  ferns  and  creepers,  offset  again 
with  powerful  begonia-like  foliage  and  strong  color. 
The  garden  as  a  whole,  was  conceived  as  a  painter 
would  design  a  picture,— to  be  viewed  to  best  advan- 
tage from  a  certain  standpoint  and  in  a  certain  light. 
But  in  the  comparison,  this  little  paradise  had  much 
the  superiority,  in  that,  not  from  one  point  of  view,  but 
from  some  twenty  different  spots,  the  alternating  situ- 
ations unfolded  each  its  own  surpassing  panorama. 

I  must  admit  an  unpoetical  temperament  and  an 
mchnation  to  look  at  things  from  what  we  are  pleased 
to  call  the  practical.  That  the  cobweb  on  an  angel's 
statue  may  hide  from  us  the  entrancing  loveliness  of 
the  marble  is  sad  to  contemplate,  yet  if  we  are  so 
constituted,  what  else  can  we  do?  This  explanation 
IS  but  precedent  to  my  further  admission  that,  as  I 
lingered  admiring  this  charminj  retreat,  the  thought 
of  the  immense  labor  of  weeding  such  a  place  sug- 
gested itself  to  my  mind.  When,  in  such  contempla- 
tion, Vera  told  me  that  half  an  hour  a  day  was  all  the 
23 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 
time  she  found  necessary  to  spend  upon  her  garden, 
and  further,  that  no  other  hand  but  hers  had  touched 
a  plant  or  leaf,  I  naturally  asked:  "But  how  do  you 
keep  down  the  weeds  ? " 

"Weeds?    We  make  no  distinction  between  one 
class  of  plant  and  another." 
"  Then  you  grow  weeds  and  all  ?  " 
"  Yes." 

control*?  "°"'*  ^^^  ^'"''^  spread  and  pass  beyond  your 

"No  But  I  see  what  you  mean.  I  remember  the 
books  tell  us  that  in  your  time  certain  plants  had  seeds 
to  which  were  attached  little  downy  wings  or  some 
such  adjuncts  that  carried  the  seeds  vety  often  great 
distances  Nearly  all  of  these  plants  were  what  you 
call  weeds,  and  I  can  easily  imagine  the  trouble  one 
wou  d  have  .n  following  these  airy  atoms  flying  with 

hL^T^\  ^°^'  """  '"^"  "°  "**•"  ^  eroJ.  We 
have  the  plants,  but  their  seeds  are  as  if  the  little 
wmg  had  been  clipped  off,  and  when  the  seed  ripens  it 
falls  to  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  plant.  In  conse- 
quence, we  are  not  troubled  with  that  redundant  fe- 
cundity of  which  you  complained. 

"Why  this  present  difference  I  cannot  explain.  Pos- 
sibly ,t  IS  only  a  reversion  to  primitive  nature.  It 
rji'  *,  '  '^''*"  '^^  ^'°''*'^  ^"rf««  began  to  cool, 
n^l?!i,  ""^"*  vegetation  of  the  coal  formation 
period  thereupon  experienced,  in  the  increasing  chill 

rlTf     '.f-  "°r,^'="°"«  «t^"rele  for  existence,  the 

latent  faculties  of  the  seed  therein  originally  implanted 

24 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 


by  the  Creator  were  called  into  action,  and  these 
downy  attachments  and  such  added  auxiliaries  took 
form;  and  so  the  plant  in  the  presence  of  increasing 
natural  difficulties  may  have  developed  these  hereto- 
fore dormant  aids  to  propagate  and  multiply. 

"  Now  with  our  equable  temperature,  and  a  cHmate 
comfortably  warm  the  whole  year  round,  the  necessity 
which  in  your  time  existed  has  ceased;  and  so  with 
the  necessity  has  ceased  those  expanded  faculties 
which  that  necessity  demanded. 

"  A  native  of  the  Tropics  carried  quickly  to  the 
Arctic  regions  would  by  his  innate  reason  be  impelled, 
for  his  own  comfort  and  preservation,  to  cover  himself 
with  warm  clothing,  which  again  he  would  remove 
upon  his  return  to  his  southern  home.  The  lower 
animals,  insects  and  even  vegetable  growths  will  often, 
by  a  slow  process,  change  and  assume  another  color 
or  even  contour,  as  a  protection  to  their  existence. 
This  not  by  intelligent  reason,  but  by  an  inherent 
propensity  inferior  even  to  instinct.  How  can  we 
deny  that  the  Creator  in  giving  life  and  a  means  of 
propagating  life  to  the  humblest  plant  creation,  could 
not  therewith  give,  (just  as  in  more  generous  measure 
He  gave  to  man  himself),  a  latent  ability  to  that 
plant  to  adapt  itself  in  preservation  of  its  species  to 
a  changing  environment. 

"  It  may  be  true  that,  with  the  cultivation  of  the 

ground,  man  found  this  seed  fecundity,  so  necessary 

in  the  wilderness,  superabundant  and  a  menace  and 

burden  to  him.     But  while  a  continuous  warfare  with 

25 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
nature  was  entailed,  which  showed  man  in  his  conflict 
out  of  harmony  with  the  creation,  these  provisions 
superabundant  in  his  eyes,  may  yet  have  been  neces- 
sary to  the  plant  in  its  struggle,  not  with  man  in  his 
plowed  field,  but  with  wild  nature  for  the  preservation 
of  its  existence.  With  nature  now  a  less  formidable 
antagonist,  the  seed  has  laid  down  some  of  its  habila- 
ments  of  war." 

Stopping  to  admire  a  flower,  or  passing  to  where 
some  new  and  charming  vista  unfolded  itself,  we  un- 
consciously had  come,  at  the  extremity  of  one  of  those 
winding  bays  which  I  have  mentioned,  to  a  mound  of 
newly  dug  earth. 

Vera  turned  away  as  if  to  draw  me  elsewhere,  but 
the  very  action  confirmed  in  my  mind  the  surmise 
that  this  was  the  scene  of  my  first  introduction  to 
this  hospitable  family.  Yet,  the  memory  of  the  event 
still  carried  with  it  a  certain  uncanny  repugnance  to 
the  place,  a  feeling  Vera  seemed  to  share.  At  the 
same  time,  this  suggestion  of  my  past  projected  be- 
fore me  the  question  of  my  future.  What  my  next 
move  would  be,  where  I  would  go,  now  that  my  health 
and  strength  had  fully  returned,  pressed  with  a 
puzzling  interrogation  upon  me.  I  frankly  mentioned 
to  Vera  my  perplexity. 

"  But  you  must  remember  that  it  is  not  for  you 
to  decide;  you  belong  now  to  me." 
"How  so?" 

"You  will  not  deny  that  yonder  hole  and  mound 
of  earth  are  m  my  garden— my  very  own  garden?" 
26 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

"  No;  that  is  admitted.  " 

"According  to  tJie  fundamental  rules  that  now 
govern  title,  or  private  ownership,  the  right  or  prop- 
erty and  possession  exists  in  whatever  is  made  by  the 
labor  of  our  hands  or  raised  by  us  from  the  ground 
by  our  own  exertions." 

"  But  then,"  I  objected,  "you  merely  dug  me  up 
upon  my  first  disclosing  myself  to  you,  at  my  own 
instance,  by  means  of  ray  earth  subsidence.  It  was 
as  if  you  had  released  a  prisoner  confined  in  a  house 
you  had  acquired  after  his  incarceration." 

"  Oh,  no.  Had  you  been  a  mine  discovered,  a  min- 
eral dug  up,  you  would  belong  to  the  Community,  sub- 
ject to  a  recompense  for  the  exertion  expended  in 
prospecting  for  you.  Had  you  been  a  shrub  growing 
in  the  unkept  field  or  forest,  you  would  belong  entirely 
to  the  Community;  but,  should  any  one  transplant 
you,  as  he  would  have  full  right,  you  would  belong, 
upon  being  replanted  in  his  private  garden  to  the  one 
who  appropriated  or  potted  you." 

"  Then  as  a  human  mineral,  I  belong  to  the  Com- 
munity. " 

"  Have  you  forgotten  that  when  you,  as  you  claim, 
discovered  yourself,  my  father  at  my  instance  dug 
you  up,  and  that  then  we  replanted  you  under  a  gentler 
covering  of  clay,  a  little  distance  from  your  first 
location  ? 

"  You  will  understand  that  the  original  putting  you 
in  the  earth  long  ago  in  your  so-called  burial,  consti- 
tuted a  virtual  abandonment  of  you,  not  only  by  your- 
27 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
Mlf.  but  aUo  by  your  community.    You  will  alao 
notice  that  under  the  bouted  laws  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  thirty  years  in  which  the  soil  of  my  garden 
ft«d  you  m  possession,  adverse  to  yourself,  lost  you 
under  your  twenty-year  statute  of  limitations  any 
claim  to  yourself,  even  upon  the  stretched  presump- 
tion that  your  person  had  ceased  to  become  personal 
property  and  had  become  real  esUte.    You  will  not 
deny  that  the  soil  held  adverse  possession  of  you.  in 
tftat,  dunng  the  tenun;,  you  could  enjoy  no  use  or 
se.mce  o   yourself,  and  it  was  only  with  the  consent 

IH'I^'        ''''"  "'^  •*'  "*"*'  ■''• '"  demagnetixing 
you,  that  you  came  to  yourself. 

I    '/?.*'''  ■*"■*'  °^  '=°""*'  *•"»»  accretions  to  the 
land  ultimately  revert  to  the  final  owner,  and  so  we 
might  conclude,  that  as  I  am  the  owner,  I  take  with  the 
soil  also  the  appurtenances.    This  should  give  me  title 
under  your  own  law.    But  even  under  ours,  you  re- 
member as  I  have  already  stated,  that  I  dug  you  up. 
and  transplanted  you  to  another  place.    That  esub- 
lishes  appropriation  which  gives  us  now  a  full  claim, 
especially  after  a  previous   abandonment.    Perhaps 
you  are  unaware  that,  after  replanting  you,  as  the 
earth  covering  of  my  new  found  orchid  lost  its  mois- 
ture, I  watered  you  and  tended  you  as  I  would  a 

3   ?1-f°"';-    ^''"''  ""'"  y°«  ^«-  -d  bfos! 

somed  into  life  and  vigor,  and  I  plucked  my  anemone 

and  have  you  here  beside  me  now  full  blown,  am  I  not 

right  in  saying:— you  are  mine?" 

The  assumed  seriousness  of  her  expression  as  she 

28 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
finished  her  unanswerable  argument  melted  away  at 
sight  of  my  blank  lack  of  comprehension,  and,  as  a 
sympathetic  smile  enfu.ed  her  face,  in  more  than 
pardon  and  atonen.ent  for  the  perplexity  she  had  so 
wilfully  caused  me.  she  gently  threw  her  arm  about 
my  neck  and  playfully  kissed  my  cheek. 


29 


CHAPTER  V. 


It  was  a  Monday  afternoon. 

fivr^crk.'"  *"* "'"  *"**™  "''^  •''°*''*  *°"'  *" 

Mr.  White  and  I  had.  with  our  outward  eye.  each 
intent  upon  his  own  unspoken  thoughts,  been  follow- 
ing the  birds  as  they  flitted  from  twig  to  twig,  or  gaz- 
ing may  be  far  away  into  the  fleecy  clouds  that  slowly 
fJltM  wt"  T"'  '"  *•'*  ""'*  «P»"«  "bove.  At 
tfons  '"  "'~"  *''*  *"*""  °'  °"'  '««"- 

things  that  seem  somewhat  out  of  the  order  of  your 
previous  existence?" 

I  explained  my  great  difficulty  to  be,  that  although 
so  srort  a  penod  as  only  thirty  years  had  elapsed  it 
was  hard  for  me  to  identify  anything  of  t>  pres;nt 
in  any  way  as  a  projection  or  elaboration  of  the  civili- 
zation of  my  own  times ;  in  fact,  it  seemed  to  me  more 
like  a  beautiful  past  than  even  an  Arcadian  future. 

yes,  I  agree  with  you,  there  is  some  foundation 
for  your  impression,  how  much  you  yourself  will  be 

i'n  thl°hl    f  ?'"  ^  '^"  '"  "  ''"  '''^*°""'  '"<=id«nts 
..,,...  "^  y^"""  ""conscious  existence. 

When  your  faculties  failed  you,  in  the  opening 
3Q 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

r„*«.f  ♦»•'•'*«'"«»»•  century,  certain  nebulous  phan- 
tom, long  threatening  the  social  stability  of  the  world 
began  to  materialize.  Protective  tariffs  but  hastened 
the  .nevitable     The  hand  looms  and  small  indiS 

L.m  ted  Liability  Companies,  which  in  turn  by  com- 

Slder  mo"  T"**'"."  ""•   ""'«'•*  »"«'  '"'*«"• 
.?t  T?  *'*'«-»P'«d  corporate  control. 
To  fight  these  Trusts,  laws  were  enacted  to  pre- 
vent   co-related,  establishments    from    pooling   their 
profits  or  adopting  interpreferential  rat^or^ariff 
The  unlooked  for  but  not  illogical  result  was  "ha 
two  or  three  superlatively  wealthy  financial  ma^iltes 

mJJest  fn tllTh'  """"^  ''~"^''*  -*  ^  ~"SS 
dvS  [,  -^'"*'"  P™''"«='"»  enterprises  of  th! 
civilized  worid.  Once  the  smaller  corporations  had 
aggregated  the  scattered  crumbs  of  indu^ry,  i tTd  not 

rate  Zs"  T  ^""'  ^^^"^^  *°  '"--^"e  glom- 
erate mass.    For  a  time  the  people  were  arhast  at  th. 

portion    and   threatening  p^ssfbiJes     fin,;*   J 

ong  centuries  to  servile  submission  to  the  laws  thev 

found   themselves  tied   hand   and   foot   by  tL  ^e^ 

"Nationalization  became  the  popular  cry  Had  it 
been  adopted  years  before,  and  an  efficient  Ln"ng  in 
self-management  inculcated  into  the  people  this  mfei^ 
have  afforded  a  remedy.  Unfortunatelv  a  cau"  is 
oftener  judged  by  its  promoters  than  by  hs  ^eHt 
The  emptiest  absurdity  draped  in  the  Sus^-dS 
31 


AFTER    THE   CATACLYSM 

mantle  of  a  reverent  antiquity  will  masquerade  for 
generations  as  profoundest  wisdom,  if  vouched  for  by 
a  venerable  defender. 

"  So,  too,  when  socialists  and  cranks  at  strife  with 
things  that  be,  by  chance  held  by  its  hottest  end  some 
burning  truth,  waving  its  blazing  beacon  light  above 
the  pirate  flag  of  anarchy;  timid  and  ignorant 
humanity  looked  fearfully  at  these  unbalanced 
sponsors  for  the  truth,  and  in  their  fright  denounced 
the  truth  as  lies.  Not  'that  the  world  were  wise  to 
follow  the  blatant  ravings  of  the  demagogue,  but  only 
that  the  diamond  in  the  gutter  is  a  diamond  still. 

"  When  thoughful  but  influential  voices  urged 
radical  measures  to  crush  or  even  hold  in  check  the 
Trusts ;  those  in  the  Legislature,  still  clinging  to  their 
shreds  of  vanishing  authority,  opposed  the  step.  It 
would  be  spoliation,  it  would  be  robbery  to  expropri- 
ate the  national  heritage  without  compensation,  and  as 
the  Syndicate  already  owned  all,  the  people  had  noth- 
ing with  which  to  repurchase  their  birthright. 

"  Many  good  men,  actuated  doubtless  by  the  best 
and  most  honorable  of  motives,  argued  from  the 
altruistic  level.  These  were  seconded  by  the  ablest 
intellects  that  could  be  subsidized  by  the  Syndicate. 

"  The  common  people,  denied  the  comfort  and  sup- 
port which  the  active  or  even  passive  sympathies  of 
their  statesmen  and  men  of  literature  might  have 
afforded,  became  desperate,  morose  and  bitter.  To  be 
told  that  they  were  but  fleeing  from  the  shadowy  phan- 
tasmagoria of  a  redundantly  fertile  imagination  was 
32 


AFTER    THE   CATACLYSM 
small  assistance.    Th  :>  looked  f ,  r  relief,  not  rhetoric. 
i.2l  !  ""^°"'^  *^'-'  '•■''  ""'^  i"  the  Syndicate 

a        Bit'th  ^'''^^"'^"^^  -^  y«t  -net  them  facet 
tace.    But  the  menace  of  a  threatening  fact  was  there  • 
and  labor  without  liberty  of  choice  wfs  slavey       "' 
This  state  of  affairs  was  not  confined  to  the  Conti- 
nent of  America.    All  Christendom  was  in  the  grj  p 

to    curta^r^rnfTr'"  ^*'^^'"^"''  *''°"^'''  '^  ^'i-' 
«^JZ  .  ^^   P°^"   °f   the   Syndicate   was 

mainly  commercial  and  financial. 

tar7tnH^"'°''"'"  ^"^""""^"ts.  so  far  as  their  mili- 
tary   and    agrarian    predominance    surmounted    the 

dressed  for  money,  the  smaller  States  such  as 
Spain,  Portugal,  Greece  and  even  Italy,  so  d  out  fo 
ca  h  sueh  unattached  provinces  and  islands  as  I  ^e 
not  of  vital  importance  to  them,  parting  with  Ten 
he  sovereignty  therein,  and  at  th;  same  tLTbes  o" 
ihf  pur^chS""  "'"^"  '''  tn-'ti-millionaire  who  11 

off'f?*'^'  r"'''  *°  *•"*  *=''''8:rin  of  Russia,  had  traded 
oe  to  some  Jewish  bankers  the  whole  of  Palestine  for 

wi  hffrTrr,";  ""?  *°  ^"^'-"''  ConSi^o  ^' 
"f  Great  Br^tTiiV'"'''  """^^  *''*  *^«=«*y  P^°t*<=tion 
^aftak  n^  f  and  Germany,  an  Israelitish  Republic 
was  taking  form  and  substance  in  the  Holy  Land. 

One    of    those    comparatively    small    events    in 
histor,  ,,    ,,  British-Boer'war.  about    ht last 

t?on;t:;;trr*'erntThrt''^'' "  ^ '''''°'-- 

J   s  cater  extent  than  its  importance  would 
33 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
suggest,  aflFected  the  military  systems  of  the  world. 
Its  teaching  was  to  arm  the  whole  population  as 
civilians,  not  as  soldiers.  The  nations  wise  in  their 
generation,  quickly  put  the  lesson  into  practice,  and 
soon  their  vast  standing  armies,  like  huge  billows 
towering  over  all  Europe,  subsided  into  the  great 
sullen  sea  of  labor,  only  to  add  to  the  plethora  of  in- 
dustrial production.  The  human  engines  of  war 
were  not  destroyed;  they  were  only  dismounted. 

"Each  group  of  artisans  in  Europe  and  America 
was  in  disguise,  a  squad  of  soldiers.    The  sergeant 
and  subaltern  were  fellow  workers  at  the  bench-    Only 
the  National  Guards  required  to  hold  the  cowering 
populace  in  check,  and  the  absolutely  necessary  regi- 
mental units  retained  their  uniforms.    So  thoroughly 
were  the  plans  laid  out,  that,  on  a  trial  mobilization, 
at  headquarters,  an  electric  button  pressed,  and  six 
million  Germans,  ere  the  second  sun  had  set,  stood 
fully  armed  and  accoutred  to  defend  the  Fatheriand 
So,  too,  in  the  United  States,  in  Canada,  in  Mexico, 
each  able-bodied  man  within  twelve  hours  could  reach 
his  rifle. 

"  With  the  same  mathematical  precision,  taught  by 
the  same  masters,  the  different  trades  had  each  their 
unions,  their  centres,  and  their  Federal  and  National 
Organization,  with  a  Grand  Council  that  formed  a 
copestone  uniting  practically  all  the  manual  laborers 
in  Chnstendom.  So  were  affairs  at  the  beginning  of 
the  second  decade  of  this  century. 

"  Surely  the  fuel  was  well  arranged  to  invite  the 
34 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 


conflagration.  The  carefully  laid  trains  from  maga- 
zine to  magazine,  were  now  complete.  The  explosion 
quickly  followed.  F'"»ion 

rJiu^  'V^^  ""''"  ""'""  ''^  ^"  "^''y  Nevada,  the 
little  spark  was  struck.    On  that  certain  memorable 

h„    K     '™^"  *>•*?"*«  "°se  between  a  workman  and 

Jl  r^  7  '  "'"  '"  ^°'"^  ^^-^  the  mine  to  the 
dump  had  forgotten  his  shovel,  or  else  expected  to  find 
one  waiting  for  him.  The  boss,  angered  at  the  care- 
essness.  threatened  to  dock  his  pay  for  the  half  hour's 
iTilt^  '?  ^°T^  ^""  ^"'^  ^^"'"^  '^'  implement. 

Tn  tft    J      '?'"'*  '^'"  *''"*  t*"  *•'<"«  g>ng  struck. 
To  take  their  places,  the  owners  brought  fn  a  new  lot 
of  men.  mainly  starving  creatures  and  negroes  who 
were  not  in  any  Union.    To  meet  this,  the  e^n^ers 
and  hands  on  the  spur  that  joined  the  mine  wSh  th^ 
tnmk  road  all  went  oflF.    In  consequence,  the  owners 
closed  down  indefinitely  both  mine  and  branch  l"« 
In  revenge,  the  crews  on  the  trunk  road  struck   a^d 
when  the  concern   endeavored   to  keep  their  traffic 
moving   the  railway  was  boycotted  anS  In    mwl 
placed  by  the  National  Union  on  its  coal  supply        "^ 
Naturally  enough,  one  of  the  neighboring  mines 
for  under  the  Syndicate  all  their  interests  were  m"  ^a  ' 
disregarded  the  embargo  and  sent  in  coal.    Th^r^ol 
lowed  a  strike  of  the  mines.    Blame  was  not  whoSy 

Pride  of'      uJ^T,"""'  °'  '^°'--«  opposed   the 

pnde  of  wealth.     If  avarice  and  power  impelled  thl 

Syndicate  to  despotism,  the  selfish  intoIeZ"  of  the 

35 


AFTER    THE   CATACLYSM 

Unions  even  toward  their  fellows  outside  the  Brother- 
hood, rendered  the  workmen  tyrannical.    They  felt 
their  power,  they  knew  that  upon  equal  terms  they 
were  resistless.    The  skill,  the  finesse,  the  dexterity 
of  the  intellects  that  fettered  them  they  discerned. 
They  were  like  giants  smashing  blindly  with  their 
club  against  a  rapier.    They  were  enmeshed  with  silk, 
not  iron  chains;  and,  as  they  felt  the  web  now  tightly 
spun  about  them,  they  hurled  themselves  with  insolent 
defiance  upon  those  whom  they  chose  to  call  their  op- 
pressors.     How    often    does   selfish    inconsideration 
brmg  striio.   often   calamity.     A   little   coolness   and 
reason  might  perhaps  have  made  hiotory  otherwise, 
but  that  was  not  to  be. 

"  For  a  time,  both  sides  stood  firm,  but  when  hun- 
ger joined  in  alliance  with  the  Syndicate,  desperation 
urger  desperate  measures. 

"  After  the  mines  struck,  the  owners  endeavored  to 
put  in  other  laborers.  The  result  was  a  riot.  The  few 
police  failed  to  restore  order,  and  the  Syndicate  made 
«ie  fatal  mistake  of  requisitioning  the  National  Guard. 
The  Government  dimly  foreseeing  the  danger,  and  yet 
powerless  in  the  hands  of  the  Syndicate,  could  not 
refuse. 

"  To  evidence  their  sympathy  with  the  local  miners 
out,  Headquarters  gave  the  signal,  and  every  Union 
miner  in  America  laid  down  his  pick.  When  the 
European  producer  began  to  relieve  the  pressure  bv 
shipping  to  the  States  the  needed  fuel,  the  Brotherhood 
of  Man  compelled  the  transatlantic  miners  to  come  to 
36 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

the  rescue,  and  they  too  struck.    With  the  stoppage  of 
the  coal  supply,  factories  had  to  close  their  doors. 

"The  crisis  had  come,  and  it  was  the  Syndicate 
against  the  People. 

"  The  Syndicate  now  determined,  by  the  aid  of 
negroes  and  large  importations  of  Chinese  under  mili- 
tary guard,  to  open  the  mines  of  Pennsylvania.  They 
sent  two  regiments  of  Nationals  down  to  the  collieries. 
The  strikers  showed  violence-  When  the  women  and 
children  pelted  the  soldiers  with  sods,  the  order  was 
given  to  fire,  and  at  the  first  volley  a  swath  of  starving 
humanity  was  mown  down. 

"  'To  the  arsenals  I '  arose  the  cry ;  and,  ere  the 
authorities  could  intervene,  fifty  thousand  rifles  in  the 
hands  of  the  maddened  miners  rushed  to  wreak  ven- 
geance on  the  National  Guards.  In  the  conflict  that 
followed,  in  which  every  man  was  trained  to  his 
weapon,  no  mercy  was  shown.  The  Nationals  brought 
mto  antagonism  to  the  people  through  many  such 
jobs  of  terrorism,  at  the  instance  of  the  Syndicate, 
had  become  by  this  time  as  hated  by  the  citizens  as 
once  were  the  mercenaries  of  the  decaying  Roman 
Empire. 

"  When  the  news  of  the  battle  at  the  collieries  was 
flashed  over  the  Continent  and  across  to  Europe,  a 
panic  ensued.  The  armories  were  plundered,  ammuni- 
tion seized,  and  each  man  armed  himself  as  best  he 
could.  Barricades  were  thro^vn  up,  trenches  and  de- 
fences everywhere  appeared,  and  all  Christendom  be- 
came a  battle  ground.  Plundering  for  provisions  the 
37 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

well-armed  mobs  attached  the  great  Syndicate  pro- 
perties; and  the  National  Guards,  and  such  troops  as 
obeyed  the  summons  were  thrown  into  the  defence. 
Ij     I  The  issue  was  not  for  long  in  doubt.    The  mercen- 

I  anes    were   driven    back,   overpowered,    and,    when 

j      i  "*'*•'«'■  ™an,  nor  woman,  nor  child  were  spared,  anni- 

jl  !;  hilated. 

''    !  "  ^s  the  people  tasted  blood,  their  thirst  for  blood 

mcreased.  An  awful  fear,  a  sense  that  each  man's 
hand  was  against  his  ^  neighbor,  a  panic  of  terror  com- 
pelled the  stroke  to  anticipate  the  expected  thrust. 
With  the  last  semblance  of  authority  vanished,  lawless- 
ness went  mad.  If  here  and  there  some  few  would 
counsel  moderation,  the  demon  of  destruction  dashed 
them  down;  lest,  in  a  retributive  justice  once  estab- 
lished, the  murderous  excesses  should  meet  punish- 
ment. They  had  gone  so  far  that  no  one  dared  turn 
back. 

"At  the  first  great  call  to  arms,  the  farm  and  work- 
shop  both   had   been    deserted.     When   approaching 
Autumn  chilled  the  fevered  blood,  cold  and  starva- 
tion  threatened.     How  the  miseries  of  that  winter 
were  met  and  endured  is  not  to  be  told.    Robbery  and 
arson   filled   up  the   quota  famine  lacked.     Many   a 
starving  family  would  wake  in  the  gray  morning  to 
find  their  little  treasured  fuel  or  food  stolen  while 
they    slept.     During   that    single   year,    a    third    of 
Europe  and  America  perished  from  the  bullet,  or  just 
as  deadly  cold  and  hunger. 
"  In  the  Spring,  many  with  such  of  their  families 
38 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

as  survived,  fled  to  the  forests  and  the  wilderness. 
Here,  planting  such  little  seed  crops  as  they  could, 
they  struggled  through  the  summer,  living  on  such 
wild  berries  and  roots  as  nature  provided.  Yet,  even 
here,  marauders  sought  them  out,  and  despoiled  and 
often  murdered  them. 

"  During  the  first  year  of  this  widespread  reign  of 
terror,  the  only  European  country  that  had  any  fair 
measure  of  escape  was  Russia.  Shut  in  from  much 
communication  with  the  rest  of  civilization,  her  popu- 
lation mainly  on  the  soil,  the  virus  did  not  thoroughly 
permeate  the  masses.  Her  army  mobilized  on  the  first 
warning  of  trouble,  such  of  the  people  as  showed  rest- 
lessness were  handled  without  mercy. 

"  In  the  first  calm,  after  Winter  had  somewhat 
checked  the  raging  madness,  such  as  still  had  property 
began  to  count  up  their  few  remaining  assets.  Invest- 
ments outside  the  great  cyclonic  circle  were  partially 
intact.  The  unprecedented  exodus  of  Jews  from 
Russia  into  Palestine  withdrew  from  the  former 
country  much  of  its  ready  money.  On  the  loss  of  all 
confidence  in  paper  accommodation,  the  totally  in- 
adequate coinage  threw  gold  up  to  an  immense  prem- 
ium. The  Palistinean  Israelites  began  a  wholesale 
foreclosure  of  the  claims  they  still  held  on  their  many 
needy  Russian  debtors.  So  great  was  the  aggravation 
and  misery  that  overwhelmed  the  thriftless  Muscovites, 
that  at  last  they  called  for  help  and  protection  to  their 
Government  and  nobility.  The  response  was  as  ready 
as  it  was  surprising.  With  a  cry  for  vengeance  on 
39 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 


dient  army  into  m^l  .    *"  ''*"'•  P"*  his  obe- 

tun,cd  toT,;d  Je^aier  "'•  ^'^^  *"'''  ^«~ 

for  assistance     G?~T''  ?"*"'"  ""<"  Germany, 
land,  tliough  in  sore  straits  never  fl^^^  '  ^"8^" 

transports  as  were  obtaf„,W?.^"*-  °"  '"^^^  ^^^ 
ried  forward     This  smaH  **'""  ''°°P'  *"«  ^ur- 

into  Palestine.  lL^^  T^rtV'"""  ^^  ^"'^^ 
marched  North,  the  fleot  u!-  :'*"*'*"«  "am  column 
protecting  thefr  left  flani''T7.''.'''-««*  °' *"""  '»"'' 
inland  to  garrison  Jetsalem  '™"  ""  ^«P"*^h«=<' 

ta4ttSr^S^  J- •>eing  collected  and 
had  traversed  ASaMrl;  ^^  '"^"^'''  °^  «"«■» 
In  the  mounta^rofl^^^er  the"";  """'"^  «^"- 
the  opposing  forces  met    Tihlv       T"  ^"''^''^  °' 
the  host  of  Musco"tes  and  Hun"'"'''*' '°"*''*'»'<1' 
filling  the  broad  plain  of  £,1^    '"^""^  '''^'^"d, 
less  squadrons.    ThTs  JtS  rM°"u^'*''  ^"''^  ~"«t- 
J^th  their  naturaltSriuMtetaTh'TV^"*^ 
There,  m  very  open  order.  th%  atliJS  tf  it:!;!: 
40 


AFTER   TH".   CATACLYSM 

ing  morning  to  begin  the  attack.    In  long  parallel 

aSsTir/  ""'*'  ""'  '*'"*'''  *"«  '^o  confuting 
arm  es  .aid  down  to  rest  and  gather  strength  for  the 

theThfllsTh:   f  "*^'n-    ''°  ^^"•'^  ''^  ^"  "  P-«t> 
the  shells  that  dunng  the  afternoon  had  been  thrown 

SriSrr.  'T  *"'  "'''^^  ^""•«"  batterierth^ 
Bnt  sh  had  placed  their  encampments  on  the  we;t  or 
sheltered  slopes  of  the  steep  hillsides.    In  such  array 

of  he  North  at  sunset  of  the  twentieth  of  Tune  1914 
But  I  must  now  go  back  a  little  in  my  story!^  p;rhaps 
though,  I  am  wearing  you?"  remaps 

I  assured  him  I  was  never  more  interested  in  my 
life,  and  on  no  account  to  stop. 

Just  then  Vera  came  in  with  a  tray  of  fruit  and  the 
conversation  was  interrupted. 


41 


CHAi^TER  VI. 


Mr.  White  resumed  his  story. 
"  I  must  begin  at  the  spring  of  1914.  As  soon  as 
winter  loosened  its  grasp  of  the  starving  frozen  popu- 
lace, new  rioting  began  In  the  United  States,  the 
vestige  that  remained  oi  the  Grand  Council  of  the 
Brotherhood  met  and  appointed  a  committee  of  ten 
to  assume  the  government  of  the  Republic.  The  same 
organization  in  Britain  when  it  learned  of  this  move, 
assembled  as  many  of  its  members  as  could  be  col- 
lected to  discuss  the  question  of  similar  action.  A 
good  deal  of  bitter  debate  ensued,  some  vehemently  de- 
manding republican  institutions,  others,  with  the  sen- 
timents of  the  old  monarchy  still  lingering  in  their 
breasts,  opposing. 

"  It  had  been  a  cruel  year  for  royalty.  Of  Windsor 
Castle,  only  the  old  Norman  Tower  had  escaped  the 
vandalism  of  the  mob.  The  King,  with  a  few  faithful 
fnends  lived,  or  rather,  existed,  in  the  shelter  of  the 
ruins.  What  vestiges  of  government  remained  within 
the  Empire  were  only  to  be  found  in  the  far  away 
provinces  and  minor  colonies. 
"  In  the  midst  of  the  stormy  deliberations  of  the  as- 
42 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

lembled  Brotherhood,  to  their  attoniahment  a  mes- 
senger entered  with  the  statement  that  the  King  was 
at  the  door  and  requested  admission. 

"  After  a  short  but  tempestuous  debate,  the  request 
was  granted.  Up  between  the  rows  of  delegates  King 
Edward  walked,  emaciated  and  old  before  his  time, 
but  with  a  steady  step. 

"When  he  had  reached  the  chair,  he  turned  and 
spoke.  In  clear,  brief  sentences  he  pointed  out  to  the 
assembly  his  position.  He  made  no  laws,  he  enforced 
no  laws ;  that  was  the  function  of  the  people.  He  was 
but  the  centre  of  a  circle,  the  Empire  was  bounded  by 
the  circumference.  His  dignity  was  all  in  the  reflected 
glory  of  his  Country.  As  it  was  exalted  so  was  he, 
as  it  became  base,  so  he  became  ignoble.  Did  they 
seek  the  welfare  of  the  people,  then  he  was  their 
fellow ;  did  they  design  the  destruction  of  their  breth- 
ren, he  stood  before  them  a  victim  ready  as  the  willing 
sacrifice.  In  Britain,  to  destroy  the  Crown  was  to 
destroy  the  last  vestige  and  emblem  of  authority.  So 
far  as  he  could  see,  the  people  were  without  represen- 
tatives. The  nearest  approach  to  a  representative 
body  was  the  assembly  before  him.  He  recognized 
that  fact,  and,  as  their  King,  he  had  taken  them  into 
his  councils.    Was  he  right? 

"  Amid  a  vociferous  applause  and  cries  of  '  Long 
live  the  King, '  he  proceeded.  Under  the  authority  in 
him  vested,  he  called  and  created  the  assemblage  there 
present  before  him  his  Parliament  of  Great  Britain. 
In  their  hands  he  now  deposited  the  welfare  and  the 
43 


■  M 


ii 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

responsibility    for    the    security    of    their    common 
country. 

"  As  he  turned  to  depart  he  stopped  and  added  fur- 
ther, that  when,  after  these  disturbances  ceased,  it 
pleased  the  people  of  Great  Britain  to  elect  a  Parlia- 
ment by  vote,  he  would  dissolve  the  present  assembly, 
and  furthermore  if  it  was  the  will  of  the  people  of  his 
Empire  to  demand  from  him  the  Crown,  he  would 
comply,  but  otherwise  he  would  keep  his  trust  invio- 
late till  death. 

"  Turning  again,  he  gravely  saluled  the  chair  and 
departed- 

"  In  Europe,  the  thrones  of  all  but  Russia  had  been 
swept  away  in  blood,  and  blind  anarchy  was  in  high 
power.  Murder  and  robbery  were  everywhere;  and 
gorged  with  crime,  the  weary  populace  sought  in  de- 
spair for  the  help  that  never  seemed  more  distant. 

"  Pre-occupied  with  all  things  else,  few  took  any 
notice  of  the  unusual  tides  occurring  upon  and  after 
the  middle  of  June,  nor  marked  the  heavy  meteoric 
shower  of  the  nineteenth  of  that  month.    Were  it  not 
for  an  enormous  star,  mellow  like  a  twin  moon  that 
blazed  out  in  the  Zenith  of  the  midnight  heavens,  no 
comment  would  have  been  aroused.    That  some  lone 
astronomer   in    less    evil    times    would    have    cabled 
around  the  universe  his  warning,  might  have  been 
but  now   his  voice  remained   unheeded  or  unheard' 
Yet,  ere  the  sun  had  set  on  the  succeeding  evening  a 
terrified  commotion  filled  the  earth. 
"  Tidings  of  fearful  portent  from  the  Far  East  had 
44 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

hurried  westward  on  the  wire.  A  clash  of  worlds  im- 
pended. From  far  out  in  space,  on  our  planetary 
plane,  an  immensity  of  matter,  probably  by  internal 
explosion,  had  abandoned  its  orbit  and  was  rushing 
with  resistless  speed  toward  the  sun. 

"  Directly  between  it  and  its  destination  interposed 
our  globe,  and,  with  the  crash  would  come  destruction. 
No  wonder  then  the  peoples  of  the  Earth,  warned  by 
the  wire,  stood  still  in  terror.  But  what  a  little  object 
in  the  infinite  of  the  expanse  this  world  of  ours  is,  was 
quickly  to  be  demonstrat<;d. 

"At  midnight,  Greenwxh  time,  the  ending  of 
June  the  twentieth,  the  great  threatening  mass  went 
flying  by,  avoiding  us  by  going  directly  south  or 
below  our  globe. 

"The  imminent  collision  we  had  been  spared,  but 
only  by  the  narrow  margin  of  a  hundred  thousand 
miles. 

"  None  the  less,  the  terrestial  influences  were  enor- 
mous. 

"  Sweeping  across  the  ocean,  vast  mountains  of 
water  were  piled  up  in  gigantic  tidal  waves. 

"  One  immense  deluge,  gathering  in  the  antarctic  re- 
gions and  rounding  the  Cape,  swung  north  and  west 
across  the  Atlantic,  and,  with  its  crest  a  thousand  feet 
in  height,  submerged  the  whole  eastern  coast  of  Amer- 
ica. Then  in  its  equal  reaction  it  recoiled  and  again 
with  more  than  railway  speed  recrossed  the  ocean, 
and  laid  for  miles  inland  the  low  shores  of  Europe 
under  its  devastating  waters. 
45 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

"In  the  Pacific,  a  counter-balancing  tidal  distur- 
bance brought  similar  destruction  upon  the  populous 
seaports  of  China  and  Japan. 

"  In  the  Indian  Ocean,  a  burden  of  foaming  waters 
hurried  by  a  northwest  course  across  the  equator,  and 
dashed  in  fury  on  the  Arabian  and  Abyssinian  coast. 
"^  Truly,  the  cities  of  the  Nations  fell. 
"  The  attraction  exerted  by  the  huge  mass  of  stellar 
matter,  as  it  rushed  in  such  close  proximity  past  our 
globe,  was  stupendous.  The  whole  surface  of  our 
worid  was  shaken  with  earthquakes.  The  mountains 
parted  and  great  islands  emerged  from  the  sea. 

"  The  Mediterranean  joined  its  blue  waters  to  those 
of  the  Persian  Gulf. 

"  The  Geographical  configuration  of  our  earth  sur- 
face was  radically  altered.  In  the  seismic  disturb- 
ances, our  inland  cities  fell  in  ruins. 

"Thousands  whom  the  mob  madness  spared,  the 
water  and  the  earthquake  overwhelmed. 

"  On  the  mountains  of  Israel  upon  that  memorable 
evening,  all  communication  with  the  trembling  worid 
outside  cut  oflF,  the  portents  of  the  sky  and  excessive 
atmospheric  disturbances  at  first  found  little  notice 
The  shrieking  shells,  the  dropping  of  rock  rending 
explosives  from  the  few  airships  undestroyed,  gave 
plenty  reason  for  the  unusual  color  of  the  dying  sun 
But  ere  the  evening  bugles  called  to  sleep,  the  hos- 
tile camps  discerned  that  warfare  of  the  elements 
more  terrible,  more  awful  than  their  own  impended. 
At  last  the  tempest  broke  upon  them. 
46 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

"  With  tornado  speed,  a  mass  of  inky  blackness, 
borne  on  the  wings  of  the  hurricane,  swept  in  from 
the  Persian  Sea. 

"  The  stars  were  wiped  away  as  with  a  cloth.  It  was 
darkness  that  could  be  felt.  Drawn  by  some  enor- 
mous pressure  from  behind,  the  atmosphere  from  a 
sv/eltering  humidity  turned  suddenly  chill  coW.  In 
shuddering  silence  the  puny  millions  cowered  as  the 
heavens  set  in  array  to  join  the  battle;  but  not  for 
long. 

"  As  as  a  signal  given,  the  sky  burst  into  fire.  The 
blazing  lightning  dashed  its  thousand  glittering  spean 
to  the  heart  of  quivering  earth.  Peal  upon  peal  the 
echoing  thunder  rolled  and  laughed  to  mock  the  pigmy 
cannon  of  the  angry  nations. 

"  Men  clutched  the  rocks  in  fear  and  trenibling. 

"  Then  with  an  equal  suddenness  the  tempest  ceased. 

"  OS  through  the  mountains  of  Carmel  it  rolled  its 
chariot  wheels,  while  its  yet  fierce  reverberations  told 
of  the  rearguard  action  still  in  progress. 

"The  stars  shone  out  again. 

"  But  this  was  not  the  end.  As  after  some  crashing 
overture  silence  follows,  and  then  the  curtain  rises  on 
the  play,  so  only  for  a  moment  shone  the  stars,  then 
darkness. 

"  Close  in  the  wake  of  the  thunder,  rushed  the  cy- 
clone. From  the  south  and  east  it  drove,  resistless  in 
its  frenzy.  The  water  laden  clouds  had  turned  to  ice, 
and  the  tornado,  with  its  devastating  hand  curled  its 
huge  hailstones  relentlessly  and  with  the  energy  of 
47 


AFTER    THE   CATACLYSM 
cannon  balls  against  the  stormswept  writhing  earth. 
The  slaughter  wrought  by  the  omnipotent  artillery  of 
the  elements  was  terrible. 

•'  The  unfortunate  Russians,  exposed  upon  the  open 
plain,  met  the  full  fury  of  the  icy  cannonade;  and 
when  the  hour  of  destruction  had  elapsed,  not  twenty 
in  a  thousand  survived. 

"  More  providential  was  the  shelter  of  the  Israelitish 
armies  from  the  storm.  The  almost  horizontal  torrent 
of  frozen  death,  withstood  and  warded  off  bv  the  op- 
posing mountains  behind  which  they  had  crouched  to 
escape  the  Russian  shell,  passed  over  them.  But  for 
the  casualties  from  flying  debris,  the  people  were  un- 
harmed. 

"On  the  morrow,  in  the  hearts  of  the  surviving 
antagonists,  remained  no  further  zeal  for  slaughter. 
In  the  horror  of  the  event,  aghast  they  sheathed  their 
puny  swords.  Fearful  and  shuddering,  the  erstwhile 
enemies  turned  homeward  and  away  from  that  moun- 
tain of  decision,  leaving  to  the  fast  gathering  vultures 
their  unburied  dead. 


48 


CHAPTER  VII. 


As  the  red-handed  slayer  of  his  fellow  creature,  the 
lust  of  murder  sated,  the  choking  fire  of  passion  turned 
to  ashes,  the  evil  spirit  fled,  surveys  in  trembling 
horror  his  butchered  victim ;  even  so  man's  inhumanity 
to  man  had  reached  its  climax,  and,  in  the  presence  of 
the  great  CATACLYSM,  the  shuddering  world  be- 
held itself  aright,  and  realized  the  truth. 

On  that  twenty-second  day  of  June,  a  new  era  of 
the  ages  dawned. 

To  the  unscientific,  the  gradually  shortening  day- 
light seemed  but  the  usual  concomitant  of  the  ap- 
proaching autumnal  season;  but  to  the  astronomer  a 
strange  confusion  of  stellar  phenomena  presented  itself. 

After  laborious  calculation  it  was  in  fact  established 
beyond  question  that  the  polar  obliquity  of  the  globe 
was  slowly  diminishing,  and  that  the  earth  was  grad- 
ually assuming  a  polarity  rectangular  to  the  plane  of 
its  orbit. 

At  the  time  of  the  winter  solstice,  the  equator  had 
almost  paralleled  the  planetary  horizon.  Scientists 
with  grave  apprehensions  watched  for  and  awaited 
developments. 

The  winter  was  unusual  in  its  mildness.    It  might 
49 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

almost  be  said  that  a  continuing  autumn  passed  into  a 
long  spring  with  no  intervening  coldness. 

In  the  Northern  States  no  snow  fell. 

As  the  anniversary  of  the  g^eat  tidal  disturbances 
approached,  the  world  had  reached  a  high  tension  of 
apprehension.  It  was  not  a  scientific  conundrum,  it 
was  a  question  of  life  and  death, — of  the  future  habit- 
ability  of  the  globe. 

Would  the  earth  continue  its  slow  gyration,  or 
would  it  stop?  , 

All  precedent  suggested  the  first  dread  possibility, 
and  then  within  five  years  a  completed  quarter  term 
would  bring  an  arctic  climate  to  the  equator.  From 
whence  would  come  the  enormous  friction  brake  es- 
sential to  check  the  once  active  and  continuing  energy  ? 

It  was  apparent  that  when,  eleven  months  previ- 
ously, the  enormous  meteor  close  below  the  earth  in 
its  mad  race  to  the  sun  had  just  grazed  our  globe,  the 
mid-summer  suspension  of  our  sphere  had  presented 
the  south  pole  in  its  furthest  position  of  obliquity 
from  the  sun.  Just  as  a  billiard  ball,  swiftly  passing 
will,  almost  without  contact,  give  to  its  stationary 
fellow  a  spinning  motion,  so  the  rushing  stellar  mass, 
crossing  at  right  angles  the  line  of  the  earth's  orbit 
had,  by  molecular  or  mag^netic  attraction,  communi- 
cated to  the  south  polar  surface  of  our  globe  a  gentle 
but  positive  rotation  in  the  line  of  the  meteor's  course. 
This  motion  once  established  would  in  nature  continue 
indefinitely,  and,  in  the  particular  position  of  the 
earth,  at  the  season  of  the  summer  solstice,  such  ant- 
50 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

arctic  motion  sunward  would  tend  to  perpendicularize 
the  polar  line. 

As  the  date  of  June  twenty-second  approached,  it 
had  been  demonstrated  that  the  enormous  friction  de- 
veloped by  the  gradual  subsidence  of  the  great  tidal 
waves  induced  by  the  passing  of  the  stranger  months 
before,  had  noticeably  diminished  the  already  very 
slow  meridi-n  rotation. 

About  the  sixteenth,  the  watching  astronomers  were 
thrown  into  a  state  of  perplexity  on  discovering  that 
the  tidal  disturbances  of  the  previous  June  were 
threatening  a  repetition  of  their  actions. 

Forewarned,  the  people  fled  from  the  sea  shores  and 
waited  in  ill-concealed  alarm  the  outcome. 

As  the  fated  day  began  to  dawn,  the  whole  sky 
throughout  the  northern  hemisphere  poured  down  a 
continuous  deluge  of  celestial  fire.  The  meteoric 
debris,  following  in  the  wake  of  its  huge  ^"  )rerunner 
was  speeding  by  on  its  journey  to  the  all  consuming 


The  explosion  of  the  hapless  planet  had  apparently 
shattered  its  northern  hemisphere  into  myriad  par- 
ticles, while  its  southern  half  had  remained  almost  in- 
tact. 

This  latter  portion,  its  forward  orbital  motion  ar- 
rested, had,  owing  to  its  greater  size,  first  felt  the 
solar  attrection. 

In  the  long  procession,  each  part  arranged  in  strict 
accordance  with  its  size,  the  fragments  journeyed  sun- 
ward. 

51 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

The  primary  unheaval  had  given  these  bits  a 
northern  inclination.  Though,  after  the  lapse  of  a 
twelvemonth,  the  meshes  in  the  sieve  of  time  were 
small,  the  quantity  looked  undiminished. 

Close  underneath,  our  earth  seemed  almost  to  stoop 
as  It  passed  below  the  empyrean  torrent.    The  mete- 
onc  dust  that   struck  our   arctic   atmosphere   burst 
mto  flame.    All  day  and  night  the  fiery  ashes  fell.    In 
the  morning  the  delicate  instruments  of  the  trained 
watchers  told  the  people  that  their  cause  of  dread 
had  ceased. 
The  earth  had  regained  its  equilibrium. 
The    combined    influence    of    the    myriad    passing 
particles  exerted  in  a  direction  opposite  to  that  of  the 
precedent  portion  of  the  lost  planet  had  just  sufficed 
to  restore  stability. 

A  consequent  as  well  as  welcome  result  of  the  polar 
perpendicularity  effected  by  the  astronomic  phenom- 
ena related,  was  that  summer  and  winter  had  ceased 
to  be.    Day  and  night  in  equal  measure  came  in  suc- 
cession.   Life  was  an  eternal  spring.    From  the  same 
hmb  depended  the  bright  blossom  and  the  full  ripe 
fruit.    A  continuous  mild  climate  with  neither  kill- 
ing frost  nor  torrid  heat  gave  ample  scope  for  the 
scientific  development  of  all  the  tropical  and  temperate 
fruits  and  flowers.    A  hitherto  unknown  luxuriance 
crowned  vegetation.    With  food  in  plenty  growing  to 
the  hand,  the  willing  work  of  life  became  a  pleasure 
and  needful  exertion  ceased  to  be  a  task-    Such  is  the 
earthly  and  material  environment  of  this  present  age. 
52 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


About  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  of  the  next  day 
as  I  was  enjoying  myself  in  a  quiet  stroll  through  the 
garden,  Vera  joined  me. 

"Ah,  I  have  found  you  at  last.  Are  you  getting 
tired  of  your  usual  morning  nap?" 

I  answered  that  I  was  feeling  so  strong  and  vigorous 
that  I  was  contemplating  a  constitutional  to  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  back  before  dinner  for  an  appetizer. 
"  Then  you  are  really  feeling  strong  again?  " 
"Strong!  I  never  in  my  life,  to  my  recollection,  felt 
such  a  vitality  and  energy  in  my  body;  I  feel  as  if  I 
had  eaten*  a  whole  ox,  and  had  assimilated  both  his 
muscle  and  his  structure." 

"  I  am  doubly  glad  to  hear  it.  What  say  you  to 
postponing  for  a  few  days  your  trip  to  the  Rockies 
and  coming  instead  for  a  walk  down  to  the  Lake 
bhore  ? 

"  Charmed  to.    When  ?  " 

"  Now.    Come  along." 

We  passed  through  the  gateless  enclosure,  turned 
to  the  left  on  reaching  the  smooth  green  highway,  and 
set  out  at  a  brisk  walk. 

There  was  an  exhilaration  in  the  air  that  made  my 
tendons  vibrate  with  the  nervous  tension  of  a  well 
53 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

strung  violin,  and,  ere  my  manners  checked  me,  the 
old  time  habit  overcame  me,  and  one  of  Sousa's  long 
lost  melodies  came  carolling  from  my  whistling  lips. 

"  Go  on,"  she  said. 

I  had  stopped.  It  flasi  ed  over  me, — that  same  two- 
step, — that  fated  night  on  the  echoing  concrete  of 
old  Rochester.  When  thirty  years  ago  I  had  dropped 
the  tune,  mechanically  at  the  very  note  I  had  now 
picked  it  up  again. 

The  uncanny  coincidence  startled  me,  I  remarked 
the  odd  circumstance  to  Vera. 

"  Then  finish  it." 

When  the  last  strain  was  ended,  I  paused  for  the 
applause- 

"  I  never  heard  it  before.  It  is  beautiful,  it  is  life 
and  real  motion.     Let  me  hear  another." 

So  whistling  or  maybe  singing,  we  went  our  merry 
way,  like  children  on  a  summer  holiday. 

I  had  become  by  this  time  fairly  reconciled  to  my 
costume,  though  I  had,  until  I  saw  the  contrary,  pre- 
sumed that  my  companion's  mantle  was  merely  do- 
mestic apparel. 

Yet  after  all,  it  is  by  comparison  we  judge.  The 
beach  and  the  ball-room  have  their  own  several  stand- 
ards, and  it  is  not  so  much  in  what  the  garments  are, 
but  how  they  surpass  in  circumstance  their  own 
standard  that  they  shock  us. 

So  it  was  more  with  a  self-conscious  satisfaction 
with  my  own  superlative  redundancy  of  raiment  than 
with  consternation  at  what  others  lacked,  that  I 
54 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

observed  the  youths  and  maidens  whom  we  met. 
These  both  were  as  a  rule  clad  in  a  sleeveless  tunic, 
caught  in  with  a  cord  or  belt,  that  fluttered  to  their 
knees  like  kilts,  and  waved  a  highland  greeting  to 
the  sandals  far  below. 

It  was  a  simple  outfit,  and  allowed  completest  free- 
dom to  the  agile  graceful  bodies  which  it  draped.  Yet 
though  it  gave  exposure  to  an  abundance  of  fair  olive 
skin,  nothing  immodest  or  objectionable  seemed  to 
have  the  faintest  abode  in  either  the  costume  or  the 
demeanor  of  the  wearers. 

Another  costume,  in  some  respects  even  more 
simple  than  the  former,  in  that  it  needed  no  shaping 
or  cutting  was  simply  a  long,  broad  scarf,  or  strip  of 
cloth  several  yards  long.  This  was  first  thrown  over 
the  left  shoulder  and  hung  down  the  back  to  the  knees. 
The  front  end  was  passed  under  the  right  arm,  and 
around  the  hips  and  continuing  several  turns  and  then 
the  end,  carried  down  inside  the  windings  fell  to 
about  the  knees  in  front.  Two  or  three  buttons  or 
toggles  on  each  thigh  caught  the  edges  of  material  to- 
gether to  form  a  very  primitive  skirt.  The  cloth 
was  a  woolen,  very  finely  woven  substance,  and 
seemed  to  me  to  be  a  knit,  rather  than  a  woven  manu- 
facture, but  as  fine  a  texture  as  could  be  desired.  It 
was  the  yielding,  compressible  consistency  that  en- 
abled one  to  bunch  it  over  the  shoulder  without  un- 
sightliness,  and,  on  the  other  hand  to  stretch  it  to  its 
full  width  without  undue  diaphanousness.  Only  the 
caprice  of  the  owner  gave  limit  to  the  color,  which 
55 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM. 
might  vary  from  ivory  white  to  the  darkest  purple 
maroon  or  olive.  It  required  quite  an  art  to  robe 
oneself  with  such  a  simple  drapery  and  to  bring  the 
ends  out  even.  And  yet.  after  a  little  practice  it 
seemed  as  easy  as  knotting  a  necktie.  There  was  in 
the  costume  that  they  wore,  no  distinction  either  of 
sex  or  age.  Mr.  White's  inclination  was  toward  the 
tunic;  Vera  and  I  preferred  the  scarf  drapery 

As  this  one  and  another  passed  us,  singing  as  they 
went  alo.-ig  and  merely  pausing  for  a  salutation,  I 
asked  my  companion  the  names. 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know." 

"  They  spoke  to  you  ?  " 

th  J'be'fol'^""'  ""  '  '""'*  *"""'  *"-  '  --  -- 
The  impression  that  the  people  gave  me  was  of  the 
country  side  in  happiest  humor  on  their  way  to  see 
the  circus.  Perhaps  through  association,  the  thought 
was  suggested  to  me  by  our  meeting  two  huge  dogs. 
I  actually  supposed,  even  when  quite  near  them,  that 
hey  were  the  ordinary  brown  bear  native  long  ago  to 
the  locality,  and  was  only  undeceived  when  I^aw 

yrZ?"  '  V"'"^  '^'''  ^"""y  ''"'^«-  They  sniffed 
around  me  rather  suspiciously,  I  must  confess,  and  I 
did  not  enjoy  the  dubious  twinkle  of  their  little  beady 
eyes  but  at  a  word  fror  Vera  they  walked  away 
satisfied  apparently  in  their  opinion  of  me 

fhHH^T.u"'" -^"f  ''^^  *•"=  '"""^  ^^«  cultivated  to 

Jn.1,?  '*  "^°^"^  "  ""=''  ^^^^h  °f  °^<=hard  and 

shrubbery,  among  which  flowers  were  not  forbidden 

S6 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

I  do  not  recall  any  plowed  fields  or  any  large  expanse 
of  gram.  "^ 

.J!'T  "^"^  "°  ^'""''  •""*  ^™™  *•''«  't  did  not  follow 
that  there  were  no  definite  boundaries  between  neigh- 
Dors     Yet  no  demarkation  line  of  weeds  or  unsightly 

tion  of  good  will  and  friendliness. 
With  my  knowledge  of  the  climate,  and  the  absence 

Tt,?!.,  T"*'  u^''°"'  °'  ''""Sr*  that  once  accentu- 
ated the  atmosphenc  changes  and  shifting  seasons  of 
the  past,  I  could  now  understand  how  the  frail  sum- 

to';rdLand.''"'''""  *'"  ^"'^"""'  -  -'-- 

,„!?"  ^r  "^  '°.°'  '""''  '"'■'ounded  each  dwelling; 
and  while  many  homes  showed  evidences  of  excellent 

Ws^iTti:  ZdJse.'^"''  ^•'°"^''  -"'  ^PP--"''*' 

The  ruins  of  the  old  city  had  been  abandoned. 
cfTh!!"  ^"^,*!"-»''bery  held  undisturbed  possession 
to^J^       "^  ''°"'  ^''"'^  *•«'*  "'"''«d  the  devasta" 
of  Stl  s!  ^T  "■^'^'l"^'^-    The  castellated  splendor 

bort,^^nftI  "",  "°  "°"'  '"*  ^"^  "''gnificent  lawns 
bordering  the  ample  avenue  were  still,  in  their  present 
occupation  a  scene  of  beauty.  '^ 

Keeping  to  the  westward,  and  skirting  the  city  we 
contmued  toward  the  lake. 

Charlotte  and  its  desolate  harbor  had,  under  the 
hand  of  nature,  taken  on  a  guise  that  seni  a  touch  oj 
S7 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

sadness   over   me.    The   place   resembled   one   vast 
ancient  cemetery. 

It  was  not  strange  that  the  absence  of  all  industry, 
or  rather  of  toil,  should  suggest  a  subject  of  conversa- 
tion. 
I  remarked  upon  the  lack  of  vehicles. 
"You  must  remember,,"  said  Vera,  "that  not 
twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  cataclysm.  The 
energy  and  strife,  the  boundless  ambition  of  the  rich, 
the  ceaseless  struggle  for  existence  of  the  poor,  there 
reached  a  climax,  and  when  the  morning  of  another 
era  dawned,  it  was  not  further  labor,  it  was  rest  that 
came. 

How  much  of  all  the  industry  of  your  day  tended 
to  happiness?  What  purpose  did  all  those  mammoth 
productions  serve?  Then,  those  that  had  wealth  built 
costly  palaces,  and  filled  them  with  ostentatious  orna- 
ment. As  shelter  for  the  winter's  cold  and  summer 
tempest,  dwellings  must  necessarily  be  substantial. 
None  the  less,  pride  and  emulation  urged  on  the  weary 
workers  to  gather  about  them  v^anities  that  often  had 
their  only  value  in  their  cost. 

Even  apart  from  the  luxuries,  so  called,  of  the  past, 
the  struggle  for  their  daily  bread  and  for  a  shelter 
from  the  weather  compelled  continual  labor.  In  how 
much  of  all  this  was  real  happiness?  The  railroads 
and  ships  carried  from  place  to  placr  the  food,  the 
fuel,  and  clothing  of  the  worid,  the  calls  of  business 
gave  urgency  to  travelers. 
Some  favored  ones,  in  search  of  pleasure  or  excite- 
58 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

ment,  wandered  about  the  globe,  seeing  and  being 
seen.  True,  much  of  this  was  in  pursuit  of  proper 
knowledge  and  in  ministering  to  a  worthy  enjoyment 
of  nature.  But  much  was  only  to  find  new  flavors  for 
an  appetite  sated  with  all  luxuries  that  wealth  could 
buy.  To  them  the  value  was  the  money  cost.  Com- 
pare the  beauty  of  the  lily  with  the  glory  of  great 
Solomon ;  and  then,  against  the  dainty  flower  of  the 
field,  set  up  the  barbarous  gold  and  ornament  which 
gratify  the  great,  partly,  perhaps,  in  that  they  dazzle 
the  envious  poor. 

If  the  dictum  of  the  Teacher  is  correct,  how  false 
must  be  the  eye  that  sees  nothing  to  be  desired  but 
in  the  sparkle  of  the  lapidary's  art.    Yet  it  requires 
an  unperverted  taste  and  judgment  to  give  to  the  gems 
of   Paradise,   that   deck   the  verdant   bosom   of  our 
Mother  Earth,  the  rose  and  violet,  a  higher  honor  than 
to  the  flashing  diamond.    The  verdict  differs  in  that 
wisdom  and  vanity  have  contrary  standards. 
Eliminate  pride  and  necessity,  and,  what  is  left? 
Given  a  constant  climate  such  as  now,  food  from 
the  trees,  provided  by  nature,  and   always  waiting 
to  be  plucked,  and  free  to  all  that  choose  to  take  it 
garments  which  serve  rather  to  cover  than  to  protect' 
then  see  how  little  is  left.  ' 

The  occupation  of  the  merchantman,  the  carrier  of 
gram  and  coal  is  gone.  When  consumption  ceases, 
the  factories  must  close. 

With  all  this  land  about  us,  we  choose  a  plot  of 
ground,  we  build  a  little  shelter  from  the  infrequent 
59 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

rain,  because  we  occupy  it  we  possess  it.    That  is  our 
title." 

We  were  sitting  on  a  wooded  slope  that  commanded 
a  fair  view  of  the  blue  waters  of  Ontario.  The  cloud- 
less azure  overhead,  the  steady  and  slow  pulsing  of  the 
sleeping  sea  beyond,  the  fluttering  bees  and  butterflies 
that  danced  in  the  fragrant  sunshine,  seemed  like  a 
dream  of  an  enchanted  Italy.  Here  might  the  wander- 
ing Grecians  rest  as  amid  the  palms  and  lotus,  ne'er  to 
return  to  Argos  or  the  Islands  of  the  iEgean. 

From  the  branches  swinging  over  us,  offering  their 
unforbidden  fruit,  we  accepted  our  midday  meal,  eat- 
ing and  chatting,  at  least  for  me,  in  thorough  con- 
tentment with  the  present. 

Merely  to  rest  and  indolently  gaze  upon  the  picture 
spread  before  us  was  happiness.  No  morrow  at  the 
desk  or  workshop  thrust  its  unwelcome  visage  in  be- 
tween us  and  the  comfort  of  the  moment.  There  was 
a  luxury  in  such  quiet  contemplation  of  this  peaceful 
harmony  unmarred  by  any  jarring  note.  Simply  to 
be,  to  breathe  that  balmy  air  whose  every  inhalation 
seemed  like  a  vitalizing  fluid,  was  exquisite  enjoyment. 
The  careless  abandon  of  my  companion,  reclining  on 
her  elbow  there  beside  me,  laughing  into  my  eyes  as 
some  remark  of  mine  maybe  amused  her,  or  lazily  toss- 
ing a  little  tuft  of  grass  or  flowers  at  her  pretty  toes 
or  dimpled  knee,  suggested  to  me  in  a  hazy  way  as 
from  the  distant  past,  a  hint  of  impropriety  in  the 
situation. 

Yet  I  must  do  myself  the  justice  of  admitting  that 
60 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 


«y  a  strange  perversity  of  mind,  it  almost  iarred  mv 

Do  you  want  to  hurt  my  feelings?  " 
Far  from  it."  * 

"  VT.  l°A  "^"^  T  ""^  *''*"•    What  is  it?  " 
out  here  »n    r"'  r"*''"  ''""^  ^*  ^^^'^  ^"""g  away 
XhtTet?a";iTf"  '''  '^  ""^— '^  tHat  w^ 

fo^e'efem!;;^-    '  *°''  '""'  "°^  *°  ^P-  -  back  be- 

sion^ije  this  by  themseLs.    JuS  fhem^l  V^'^"'' 

^^  uidn  t  you  m  your  time?  " 

"  Well,  toward  the  verv  late  «•„.  .  . 

our  wheels  and  go  into^l'^l^^^'^J^^f  Jf « 
but  the  old  folks  found  it  hard  n  o-T  ^''^."''"' 
modem  ways."  °  ^''^  reconciled  tc 

'•And  what  did  you  yourselves  think?" 
That  depends.    Not  every  one  is  fitted  for  liberty 
61 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 


P  !i  I 


But  then  again,  not  every  one  is  controlled  by  re- 
straint." 

"  Ah,  now  I  am  beginning  to  understand  you.  No, 
you  have  not  hurt  my  feelings  even  a  little  bit.  Per- 
haps, in  its  subtlest  form  your  underlying  motive  is  a 
rare  compliment.  But,  do  you  know,  you  have  posi- 
tively contributed  to  my  happiness." 

"How  so?" 

"  Has  it  occurred  to  you  that  you  are  to  us  as  much 
a  subject  of  curiosity,  .or,  let  me  say  interest,  as  prob- 
ably this  new  environment  is  to  yourself.  You  are  a 
being  of  a  past  century  projected  into  the  New  Age. 

"  When  you  awoke  to  consciousness  only  a  week  or 
so  ago,  you  had  not  in  the  interim  divested  yourself 
of  your  past  personality.  To  meet  you  was  as  if  I  had 
taken  a  long  step  backward  over  those  intervening 
thirty  years  and  been  introduced  to  you  in  some 
parlor  of  old  Rochester.  Yes,  I  can  somewhat  com- 
prehend just  how  the  young  men  I  might  there  meet 
would  stare  at  me.  This  simple  drapery, — I  remem- 
ber how  you  looked  at  me  when  you  awoke  from  your 
two  days'  slumber,  how  you  clutched  at  your  own 
disordered  covering,  and  may  I  beg  your  pardon  when 
I  tell  you  it  was  the  first  real  sadness  I  have  felt  since 
long  ago.  I  thought,  as  soon  as  I  said  it,  you  would 
misjudge  my  seeming  flippancy  about  your  sandals, 
and  yet,  the  very  words  you  thought  might  pain  me 
have  given  me  more  pleasure  than  you  may  imagfine." 

"Truly  I  am  glad  to  hear  it,  but  how?" 

"  Well,  candidly,  suppose  we  take  the  step  back- 
62 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
ward  into,  let  us  say  1899.  On  such  a  little  excursion 
as  this  you  meet  some  simple,  pretty  country  girl, 
and.  or  rather  this  is  what  I  mean,  do  you  not  see  a 
different  mental  attitude  to^ay  in  you  from  what 
you  would  expect  in  1899?  Why  those  proprieties 
that  crcumscnbed  the  actions  and  intercourse  of  those 
times  except  as  restraints  to  hold  in  check  the  weak- 
nesses of  nature?" 

"  But  then  some  of  us " 

■'  No,  no!  I  find  no  fault  with  individuals  as  such. 
The  pine  .s  readily  shaped,  is  soft  and  yielding,  will 
break  beneath  a  trifling  strain.  But  it  is  not  t  the 
mouth  of  the  oak  to  boast  itself  in  its  greater  hard- 
ness and  endurance.  Each  is  as  nature  made  them 
and  subject  to  the  variations  of  environment.  Per- 
haps this  will  not  in  full  apply  to  man  as  in  his  fallen 

Tw.^c'^T'^"^'^^  ^''  wickedness  and  weakness 
to  h  s  Creator,  but  at  all  events,  it  is  not  for  us  who 

\Z!r  ^™'"  *''"P.t''«on  to  stand  in  judgment  over 
those  surrounded  with  evil  allurements.  No,  my  heart 
would  sooner  go  out  in  pity  and  compassion  fo^ 
groaning  humanity  groping  in  blindness  for  the  lisht 
![, rr'""^  '"  '^1"'  *°"y  *°  ^  "^^PP-^s  that  is  but 
s^elfilTs':^-  ^''^"'  ^^•="  ^  ""'^  ^^"^  '•^^  --  oi 
"A  child!  there  you  have  struck  the  keynote.    Did 

that  as  I  look  at  you.  as  I  look  at  myself,  us  two   I 

more  faultlessly  angelic  than  the  abandon  of  a  perfect 
63 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

innocence?  V/hat  purer  than  the  nakedness  of  in- 
fancy? But  there  the  fact  comes  in  that  puzzles  me. 
If  what  I  have  come  through  had  been  a  resurrection, 
and  a  body  just  awakened  from  the  sleep  of  death,  I 
could  comprehend  the  possibihty  of  a  different  nature." 

"  No,  it  certainly  is  not  the  Resurrection,  though  it 
seems  strangely  like  it.  You  have  waked  up,  too,  out 
of  a  long  sleep,  but  that  does  not  reach  the  diflSculty. 
When  you  awoke  you  were  even  as  when  you  first 
lost  consciousness.  But  since  the  awakening  have  you 
not  progressed?  There  is  where  the  answer  to  the 
riddle  that  interrogated  myself  when  you  first  awoke 
is  found.  The  people  of  the  past  thirty  years  went 
through  the  chastening  of  a  bitter  darkness  before 
their  new  and  better  morning  dawned.  For  you, 
that  experience  was  eliminated.  Would  we  in  you 
find  a  being  out  of  harmony  with  ourselves,  or  would 
you  become  conformed  to  our  situation?  That  is 
the  enigma,  and  to-day  the  solution  is  confirmed.  But 
in  justice  to  myself,  don't  accuse  me  of  precipitating 
this  to  your  peculiar,  but  to  me  perfectly  proper  situ- 
ation, in  order  to  force  or  anticipate  its  mystery,  and 
so  gratify  an  impatient  curiosity." 

"  Still,  to  me  the  mystery  remains." 

"  When  you  recall  your  infancy  and  compare  it  with 
your  manhood,  what  constitutes  the  difference  in 
moral  state?  You  have  acquired  a  knowledge  of  evil ; 
unfortiinately,  you  have  also  developed  a  tendency  lo 
evil.  The  inherent  weakness  as  well  as  wrickedness 
of  the  flesh  conspire  with  the  temptations  from  the 
64 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

Wicked  One  directly  or  through  your  companions,  to 
compel  you  to  acts  of  evil.  And  yet  your  truer  self, 
the  remnant  of  that  Lost  Inheritance,  even  then  has 
for  some  fleeting  moments  revolted  against  the  bur- 
den of  false  allurement  that  weighed  you  down.  You 
recalled  that  assertion  of  the  better  nature,  conscience. 
And  when  you  did  evil,  has  not  that  better  nature 
sometimes  afterward  lashed  you  for  your  folly;  and 
yet,  in  spite  of  all,  you  turned  to  it  again?  " 

"  In  the  past,  a  few,  whom  probably  you  mocked  as 
enthusiasts  or  fanatics,  toiled  to  stem  the  tide,  but 
with  such  small  success  as  you  remember.  Right- 
eousness, bleeding  and  crushed,  would  lie  unburied 
m  your  streets,  while  vice  rejoiced.  So  much  was 
that  a  common  thing,  the  unnatural  in  a  good  crea- 
tion the  usual,  that,  when  the  order  of  the  universe 
1-  now  restored,  you  account  these  rather  than  the 
disjomted  times,  the  miracle. 

"  You  remember  as  my  father  has  told  you,  when 
the  day  dawned  after  that  last  shudder  of  a  final 
earthquake,  the  people  had  found  truth.  Evil  was 
then  grasped  and  held  by  the  Almighty  with  a  strong 
hand,  and  the  Eternal  Pity  wrought  compassionately. 
If  now,  m  the  Restoration,  we  wish  to  walk  aright  the 
highway  is  prepared  and  the  stones  are  gathered'  up 
The  temptation  to  do  evil,  the  false  allurements  are 
destroyed.  Given  the  desire  for  good,  the  having  is 
secure.  Don't  suppose  but  that  there  are  some,  a  min- 
ority, remaining  who  still  are  bad.  Fome,  perhaps, 
may  never  mend;  but,  however  they  may  be  at 
65 


11:  I*:- 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

liberty  to  injure  themselves,  they  can  do  no  harm  to 
their  fellows.  With  ail  other  evil,  they  are  under  the 
restraint,  and  when  with  fullest  time  and  opportunity 
they  persist  in  evil,  their  sure  end  will  be  utter  de- 
struction. Even  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forests  are 
under  the  same  control.  But  as  to  those  who  will  be 
awakened  out  of  the  sleep  of  death,  the  same  yet 
changed  to  what  fundamentally  now  are  we,  what  of 
their  progression?  Your  problem  is  in  a  measure 
theirs ;  can  the  abundance  of  present  good  absorb  their 
residuum  of  evil;  or  of  you,  who  awoke  but  from 
a  trance,  escaping  the  chastening  of  the  great  Tribu- 
lation, and  in  a  measure  their  prototype,  what  stripes 
were  in  store  for  you ;  how  could  we  help  or  lead  you, 
how  would  you  adjust  yourself  to  this  new  environ- 
ment? I  was  afraid, — I  did  not  know, — but  as  I,  with 
some  trembling  I  confess,  watched  you  and  noted 
your  changing  differences;  Oh,  I  am  so  glad!  so 
glad!" 

And  then  we  started  on  our  homeward  journey. 

Like  little  children,  or  like  some  elder  brother  from 
the  war  just  home,  there  with  an  only  sister,  hand  in 
hand  we  retraced  our  steps.  The  shadow  of  a  g^eat 
mist  had  lifted  from  off  me,  and  in  the  brighter  sun- 
shine of  a  loftier  light,  music  as  from  the  morning 
songbirds  filled  my  unburdened  heart. 


(36 


CHAPTER  IX. 


I  WAS  surprised  to  notice  that  although  our  walk 
had  covered  twenty  miles,  I  did  not  feel  the  least  bit 
weary  on  my  return  shortly  before  tea-time. 
Mr.  White  met  us  as  we  came  up  the  lawn. 
"  You  have  been  seeing  the  country?  " 
"  Yes,  looking  over  the  landmarks." 
"I  think,"   pursued   Mr.    White,   "you   expressed 
some  curiosity  regarding  our  present  flying  machines. 
If  you  have  nothing  better  in  hand,  would  you  care 
to  come  down  to  the  post  office  and  we  probably  will 
catch  the  evening  aero  delivering  the  mail?" 

Of  course,  I  would  be  only  too  glad  to  go.  Vera 
excused  herself  as  I  thanked  her  for  her  good  com- 
pany, and  we,  Mr.  White  and  I,  started  up  the  road  in 
the  direction  opposite  to  that  his  daughter  and  I  had 
taken  m  the  morning. 

We  reached  our  destination,  a  little  country  post 
office  much  on  the  old  familiar  type,  with  a  good  ten 
mmutes  to  spare. 

"  You  will  understand,  my  friend,  that  during  the 

past  few  years  of  the  regeneration  we  have  had  many 

thmgs  to  do.    The  tangled  confusion  of  aflFairs  called 

for  the  first  attention.    As  there  were  no  masters, 

67 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 


there  were  no  servants.  With  no  approaching  winter 
demanding  haste,  each  one  took  things  leisurely. 

"  The  food  problem  had  been  solved  by  the  spontan- 
eous and  abundant  provision  of  Nature.  The  devas- 
tation was  so  widespread  that  little  choice  of  locality 
remained.  Of  course,  for  grain  crops  a  level  field 
would  be  in  demand,  but  with  an  orchard,  or  for 
vines  or  bushes,  a  hillside  was  as  good  as  meadow. 

"  Each  one  took  wl^at  he  felt  he  needed,  and  so  laid 
out  his  lot  as  not  to  interfere  with  his  neighbor's 
rights.  There  was  land  in  abundance  for  all.  No 
one  appropriated  more  than  personallyhe  could  reason- 
ably use.  He  could  not  hire  men  to  work  his  land,  for 
when  there  were  no  needy  ones,  wages  had  no  attrac- 
tions. What  would  money  buy?  Food?  Food  could  be 
had  for  the  plucking.  Raiment?  This  the  community 
had  early  taken  in  hand,  and  what  was  needed  could 
be  procured  for  the  asking,  or  by  the  few  days'  labor  at 
the  common  looms,  and  with  our  simple  garments  that 
was  a  simple  want.  A  dwelling?  Any  little  booth 
would  serve  the  purpose,  and  the  erection  of  a  larger 
house  was  but  the  pleasurable  labor  that  gives  exercise 
and  lends  interest  to  living. 

"  The  Public  Services  were  not  re-organized  for  fully 
five  years  after  the  CatacHsm.  In  fact,  each  individ- 
ual was  so  intent  upon  the  home  affairs  that  touched 
himself  and  family,  or  little  group  of  neighbors,  that 
no  one  seemed  to  realize  the  want  of  any  National 
establishments.    Even   now,   the   postal    service   has 

68 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

small  patronage,  the  mere  carriage  of  correspondence 
between  relatives  and  friends." 

Just  then,  skimming  over  a  low  hill-top  about  a  mile 
away,  and  perhaps  an  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the 
ground,  Mr.  White  pointed  out  to  me  the  mail  courier. 
I  had  been  looking  with  some  expectation  away  up 
in  the  clouds,  trying  in  vain  to  resolve  an  imaginary 
dot  or  distant  bird  into  a  flying-machine-  So  I  was  a 
good  deal  surprised  to  see  the  reality  in  the  direction 
indicated. 

It  was  not  what  I  expected.  I  had  fancied  I  might 
see  a  huge  elongated  balloon  someway  or  other  pro- 
pelled, or  maybe  a  great  expanse  of  horizontal  canvas, 
a  big  aeroplane,  perhaps  a  double  or  a  triple  decker 
slicing  the  clouds  as  it  swooped  down  from  the 
heavens. 

Instead,  as  this  dragon-fly  thing  approached,  de- 
cidedly with  swiftness,  the  view  from  front  showed 
the  line  of  an  isosceles  triangle  inverted,  its  apex  a 
very  obtuse  angle.  Its  spread  was  about  twenty  feet, 
and  from  this  base  or  cross-tie  to  the  lower  angle  was 
I  should  judge,  six  feet.  In  the  mathematical  centre 
of  this  triangle  was  a  spindle,  on  the  forward  tip  of 
which  two  tandem  fans  or  propellers  whirled  in  op- 
posite directions. 

Suspended  below  was  a  light,  square-framed  cage  in 
which  the  driver  sat. 

I  had  no  time  for  further  observation  before  the 
machine,  keeping  its  speed  close  to  the  ground,  was 
almost  on  us,  and  then  I  saw  the  driver  with  some 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

effort  strongly  pros  the  lever  down.  The  result  was 
that  r  level  sail  or  plane  hinged  at  its  front  edge  to 
the  upper  cross-tie,  took  an  angle  of  some  thirty  de- 
grees out  of  the  horizontal,  pointing  forwa.d  and  up, 
and  the  machine  with  a  little  tilt  and  rise,  diecked  it- 
self quickly,  and  gracefully  settled  to  the  ground.  The 
wide  rimmed  wheels  at  the  extremity  of  four  elastic 
shafts  pointing  forward  and  aft  like  the  extended 
legs  of  a  galloping  horse,  took  up  the  small  remaining 
motion,  and,  the  propellers  stopped,  the  thing  was  at 
a  standstill  within  twenty  feet  of  the  spot  where  it 
had  alighted. 

I  now  had  a  very  welcome  opportunity  for  exam- 
ining the  affair. 

The  driver,  an  intelligent  and  agreeable  young  fel- 
low of  about  twenty,  while  he  waited  the  postmaster's 
pleasure,  undertook  to  explain  to  me  the  mechanical 
construction  of  the  machine. 

Built  above  the  narrow  oblong  cage  intended  for  the 
driver  were  a  succession  of  light  metal  triangles  shaped 
as  I  described,  and  stayed  with  cross-wires.  Their 
lower  angles  were  in  a  line  so  as  to  form  a  prismatic 
framework,  its  ends  inverted  isosceles  triangles  and 
its  three  sides  rectangles  about  ten  feet  long.  The 
under  surface  of  the  sides  (except  a  strip  about  two 
feet  wide  adjacent  the  central  bottom  edge)  was 
covered  with  a  thin  hard  material  like  cellt'loid,  and, 
over  against  this  veneering,  the  inner  sides  of  the  ribs, 
to  avoid  unnecessary  friction,  were  sealed  with  oiled 
cotton  or  silk.  The  first  triangle  frames  graduated 
70 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

larger  and  their  lower  angle  more  acute,  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  upper  forward  points  had  a  very  jaunty 
little  upward  tilt.  A  stiflFened  sail  or  mat  about  ten 
feet  square  occupied  the  middle  of  the  rectangular 
level  or  top  of  the  prism. 

When  the  aero  was  in  motion,  this  latter  plane  had 
sustaining  power,  but  its  special  use  was  to  check  the 
forward  motion  of  the  n/xhine,  and  give  it  ease  in 
alighting. 

In  its  flight  I  had  not  observed  the,  to  me,  extra- 
ordinary length  of  what  I  have  called  the  spindle 
which  ran  from  front  to  rear  through  the  mathematical 
middle  of  the  triangular  framework.  This  spindle 
was  fully  sixty  feet  long,  three-quarters  of  it  abaft  and 
one-quarter  of  it  forward  the  centre  of  the  aeroplanes. 
On  the  stem,  as  before  mentioned,  were  propellers. 
On  the  tail  end  were  four  thin  surfaces  about  five  feet 
long  and  about  two  feet  wide,  two  horirontal  and  two 
perpendicular,  set  like  the  feathers  of  an  arrow.  These 
planes  were  further  extended,  but  were  flexible  and 
moved  sideways  or  up  and  down  as  a  double  rudder 
according  to  the  desire  of  the  steersman. 

Probably  to  prevent  vibration,  as  well  as  for  further 
strength,  this  spindle  was  trussed  with  wire,  and  also 
was  firmly  affixed  by  braces  to  the  prismic  aeroplanes. 
That  part  of  the  spindle  inside  the  prism  was  swollen 
like  a  bulb,  or  of  torpedo  shape,  and  at  its  largest 
diameter  measured  about  two  feet  through. 

I  could  not  see  into  it,  but  the  driver  told  me  that 
it  was  cellular  inside  like  a  honeycomb,  and  contained 
71 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

compreued  air  at  a  preasure  of  about  four  hundred 
pounds. 

Thi«  compressed  air  could  be  supplied  either  from 
the  power  houses,  or  as  an  auxiliary,  a  small  cylinder 
of  liquid  air  could  be  clamped  on  and  utilized. 

The  driving  machinery  was  very  simple.  The  for- 
ward propeller  was  on  a  solid  shaft  that  ran  right 
through  this  bulb  from  end  to  end.  For  about  eight 
feet  of  its  length,  inside  the  bulb,  some  fifty  sets  of 
little  flat  metal  chisel  teeth,  two  inches  long,  pro- 
jected like  successive  rows  of  spokes  from  a  hub,  but 
all  like  small  propeller  blades,  turned  on  a  certain 
angle  in  one  direction.  Toward  the  stem,  these  blades 
were  a  little  longer  and  had  a  shade  less  pitch  than  at 
the  bow.  They  were  in  sets,  and  between  each 
annular  set  was  a  clear  space  of  about  an  inch. 

The  spindle  of  the  other  driving  fan  (this  was  a 
little  larger  and  went  somewhat  slower  than  its  fellow 
about  two  feet  further  forward)  revolved  on  the  same 
centre  as  the  other,  but  its  shaft  was  a  tube  which 
fitted  closely  on  the  shaft  of  the  other.  When  this 
outer  shaft  or  tube  reached  the  interior  of  the  bulb, 
it  expanded  into  a  larger  diameter,  forming  a  cylinder 
six  inches  through.  From  the  inside  of  this' cylinder, 
like  spokes  from  a  wheel  rim,  when  the  hub  is  re- 
moved, projected  a  multitude  of  these  thin  chisel 
blades,  but  with  a  pitch  counter  to  those  bristling  from 
the  inner  shaft,  and  in  sets  to  occupy  the  vacant  rings. 
Collars  and  flanges  on  these  two  shafts  took  up  all 
lateral  motion,  but  allowed  them  both  to  revolve 
72 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
freely.  To  start  the  power  it  wu  only  necessary  to 
open  a  throttle  valve,  and  let  the  expanding  air 
through  the  forward  box  into  the  front  end  of  the 
contra-toothed  cylinder.  As  this  air  ,a  !er  pressure 
forced  Its  way  to  the  external  openlM^  r  t»,e  r,.,:,„ 
end,  U  drove  the  intervening  little  pr.  k  .I;  -,  to  ie;  c  r 
nght  and  sent  the  both  shafts  .,.  „u.,g  :,  opn.;,i, 
directions. 

As  the  compressed  air  in  its  re  ctvoi,  „ou!d  u.nmt 
somewhat  exhausted,  the  throu.e  valw  would  be 
opened  wider  to  compensate. 

The  little  mail  bag  had  now  arrived  .  .,i  was  nut 
with  the  other  trifling  freight  in  a  canvas  saddle  or 
jacket  slung  around  the  bulb. 
We  waited  to  see  the  machine  start. 
The  driver  (who  also  was  captain,  engineer,  purser, 
postman  and  the  crew)  first  gave  the  rear  of  the  uppe^ 
honzontal  hinged  plane  a  tilt  of  about  ten  degrees 
downward.  Then  his  tiller  turned  the  rudder  tM  to 
an  opposite,  but  even  more  decided  slant. 

The  spectators  seemed  to  understand  the  comin? 
manoeuvres  and  gave  a  clear  right  of  way 

As  the  throttle  opened,  slowly  the  fan  propellers 
began  to  sw.ri,  then  swifter,  while  the  aero  gently 
started  forward  acquiring  speed  at  every  yard  untH 
at  last  from  a  slight  elevation  in  the  roZdway  it  dis- 

oJ  tstrtt.tr""'''  '"''"'''  "  "'''*'  ^'"^"^  '"■'«'  -th 
outstre  ched  pmions  on  its  native  element,  soared  aloft 
and  quickly  floated  far  away  from  sight 
The  first  fact  that  occurred  to  me,  and  which  I  re- 
73 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

marked  to  Mr.  White  as  we  were  walking  homeward, 
was  that,  taking  the  machine  all  for  all,  there  was  not 
a  single  mechanical  principle  nor  motive  force  that 
was  not  perfectly  familiar  to  our  inventors  years  be- 
fore the  beginning  of  the  century. 
"  That  is  so." 

"  Well,  how  comes  it  that  the  flying  machine  then 
was  not  in  use  long  before  1912?" 

"  There  are  two  reasons.  Leaving  aside  any  theory 
to  the  effect  that  inventions,  like  other  inspirations, 
are  only  given  to  mankind  when  on  the  Almighty's 
calender  the  time  is  ripe,  and  that  the  Ruler  of  the 
Universe  removes  the  scales  from  someone's  eyes  and 
discloses,  as  its  hour  arrives,  some  combination  maybe 
of  simple  principles  common  to  the  race  for  perhaps  a 
thousand  years,  and  which  theory  has  been  at.aaced 
to  explain  why  two  inventors,  continents  apart, 
honestly  and  without  collusion  discover  or  uncover  the 
same  idea  at  the  same  moment;  leaving  this  theory 
aside,  you  will  notice  that,  while  machinists  had  the 
mechanical  principles,  they  had  not  perfected  in  union 
the  arts  of  balancing.  I  say,  in  union,  because  the 
several  and  separate  ideas  were  well  understood.  The 
scientific  possibilities  of  the  aeroplane  were  thoroughly 
comprehended.  The  metal-pointed,  feather-tipped 
arrow  had  made  us,  Saxons  victors  in  the  far  days  of 
Cr6cy.  When  mechanics  properly  combined  the 
arrow  and  the  aero-plane,  there  was  the  flying  machine. 
For  years,  it  is  true,  the  wings  had  been  perfected, 
they  forgot  entirely  the  tail.  Without  the  latter,  the 
74 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

aeroplane  dived  here  and  there— was  uncontrollable. 
"  It  was  folly  to  attempt  a  canter  through  the 
clouds  on  such  an  unbroken  Pegasus.  Even  with  the 
weighted  wings,  the  further  mistake  was  made  of  sus- 
pending the  burden  and  driving  power  like  a  keel  in- 
stead -f  centering  it. 

"  By  putting  the  main  weight  and  propellers  in  the 
middle  between  the  planes,  the  air  resistance  or  sur- 
face friction  on  the  planes  was  always  balanced  on 
the  centre  of  impact  and  propulsion. 

"  A  very  light  pendulum  would  serve  to  keep  the  air- 
ship on  an  even  keel. 

"  Instead,  with  the  balance  not  respected,  an  eddying 
gust  or  varying  wind  would  continually  increase  or 
diminish  the  friction  on  the  light  aeroplanes,  while 
the  energy  or  inertia  of  the  heavier  parts  suspended 
would  not  feel  a  corresponding  start  or  stoppage,  and 
the  top-heavy,  or  rather  top-light  affair  would  lose  its 
equilibrium.  But,  with  the  arrow  centered  within 
its  sustaining  wings,  the  solution  was  found. 

"  None  the  less,  you  might  hand  a  perfect  bicycle  to 
a  skilled  mechanic;  it  would  be  one  thing  to  under- 
stand its  subtle  principles,  an  altogether  different 
thing  to  ride  and  master  it. 

"  So  with  the  air-cycle,  only  that  with  the  latter  a 
tumble  or  an  accident  meant  death. 

"Experiment  thus  was  circumscribed.      However, 

with  the  wireless  telegraphy,  a  steering  gear  witn 

valves  like  a  pneumatic  organ  under  compressed  air 

was  easily  constructed.     By  his  corresponding  tiller 

75 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

safely  fixed  on  mother  earth  the  manager  through  his 
conjoining  electric  force  could  steer  his  model  air-ship 
high  above. 

"After  many  failures,  and  much  delicate  material 
smashed  to  atoms,  ultimately  the  proper  proportions 
and  right  methods  were  discovered,  and  then,  with 
heart  of  oak  and  triple  brass,  the  first  bold  captain  on 
the  Ethereal  Sea  launched  out,  and  the  motor  airship 
was  in  being." 

"  I  notice,  Mr.  White,  that  you  have  not  yet  replaced 
the  telegraph  wires.  Have  you  so  little  need  for  dis- 
patch in  these  days  of  leisure,  that  you  can  dispense 
with  an  electric  service?  I  don't  think  that  I  have 
noticed  a  single  line  anywhere?  " 

"  Your  mistake,  my  friend,  is  in  supposing  we  need 
wires  now  at  all.  That  is  one  of  the  few  instances 
where  an  advance  in  invention  decidedly  favored  the 
government.  Marconi  discovered  that  by  diffusing 
the  electric  vibration  into  the  atmosphere  a  sensitive 
instrument  could  be  influenced  many  miles  away.  * 

The  Roentgen  ray  revealed  a  co-relation  between 
light  and  electricity,  whereby  the  motion  of  light  rays 
could  be  so  intensified  by  electric  power  as  to  cause 
the  actinic  influence  of  light  to  penetrate  several  inches 
of  opaque  matter. 

"  It  was  not  long  until  the  reverse  of  this  principle 
was  worked  out,  namely,  that  electricity  could  be  so 
intermeshed  with  the  more  subtle  light  waves  as  to 

•  Note.  This  chapter  was  written  in  1900,  just  after  Marconi's 
hrst  unimproved  wireless  invention. 

76 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

assume  certain  properties  belonging  to  light.  Among 
these  was  reflection  of  the  electric  rays.  Reflection 
comprehended  also  the  ability  to  focus  or  concentrate 
electric  radiation  by  curved  deflectors  or  lenses. 

"  It  was  found  that  the  reason  why  Marconi's  signal- 
ing from  balloons  or  very  high  towers  gave  better  re- 
sults than  from  a  lower  level,  wa"  cot  so  much  be- 
cause the  magnetic  influence  travelled  easier  in  the 
upper  ether,  as  that  the  rotundity  of  the  globe  in- 
truded between  the  terminal  points,  cutting  the 
straight  line  of  electric  direction  unless  the  transmit- 
ting and  receiving  points  were  sufficiently  high. 

"  The  next  step  was  to  perfect  relay  instruments  at 
proper  distances  apart,  to  take  up,  augment  by  batter- 
ies, and  automatically  pass  along  as  received,  the 
travelling  message." 

"  Possibly  that  tall  mast  at  the  Post  Oflice  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  afl?air?  " 

"  Yes,  if  you  examine  those  four  black  square  boxes 
at  the  top,  you  may  perhaps  conclude  that  they  are 
ordinary  locomotive  headlights,  only  that  in  place  of 
the  flame  is  a  bristling  copper,  shaped  like  the  spike 
flower  of  the  Scotch  thistle.  Then  the  reflecting  sides 
are  made  of  highly  polished  vulcanized  rubber,  backed 
with  pure  zinc. 

These  are  'senders"  and  they  are  turned,  just  as 
a  search-light  would  be  aimed,  in  the  exact  direction 
of  the  next  oflice  or  relay  instrument. 

Above  these  reflectors  and  so  out  of  their  influence, 
you  may  have  noticed  trumpet-shaped  "receivers"  of 
77 


Ill 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

similar  rubber,  pointed  horizontally  in  the  course  from 
which  their  ray  is  coming.  Inside  this  bell  mouth,  at 
the  far  end,  is  a  thin  disc  of  flat  copper. 

The  parabolic  curve  of  the  transmitter  governs  the 
concentration  of  the  electric  emanation.  Concentra- 
tion tends  to  economy  of  the  force,  but  it  is  not  always 
desirable  to  confine  the  rays  too  much.  Several 
offices  need  to  be  served  by  the  one  diffusion,  some  in 
the  same  line,  others  a  little  to  the  right  or  left.  The 
focus  is  accordingly  made  to  suit,  and  embrace  in  its 
angle  of  influence  all  the  interested  offices. 

At  first  a  difficulty  existed  to  individualize  the  tele- 
grams so  that  each  might  get  its  own  and  no  other 
message.    But  this  trouble  was  finally  surmounted. 

Each  office  had  its  own  musical  tone,  which,  how- 
ever, must  not  be  in  harmony  with  any  other.  Nor 
must  the  pitches  be  multiples  or  over-tones  of  each 
other.  For  instance,  the  pitch  of  M's  office  is  643 
vibrations,  that  of  Q  is  710,  and  that  of  Z  i«  6S7. 

Set  in  the  virire  between  the  receiver  and  the 
recorder  is  the  vibrator.  In  the  sender's  office,  in  the 
wire  between  the  transmitter  and  the  radiator,  is  a 
vibrator  which  can  be  tuned  quickly  to  any  desired 
pitch.  This  the  sender  first  adjusts  to  the  exact  note 
of  the  intended  receiving  office-  Then  putting  his 
vibrator,  as  set,  in  motion,  he  opens  his  key  and  a  long 
preliminary  dash  causes  its  prime  or  similarly  pitched 
vibrator  in  the  other  office  also  to  agitate.  On  this 
like  oscillation  a  sufficiency  of  continuous  current  is 
given  for  a  satisfactory  telegraphy.  The  message,  too, 
78 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

is  practically  secret,  as  to  steal  it  one  must  erect  his 
instrument  in.  the  line  of  direction  and  also  must  know 
before  hand  to  a  vibration  the  arbitrary  pitch.  To  tap 
a  wire  in  the  olden  days  was  a  much  simpler  job. 

It  was  about  1904,  when  this  system  was  perfected. 
The  Telegraph  Monopoly  saw  the  peril  to  themselves 
of  the  invention,  and  as  the  saccessive  patents  were 
granted,  bought  them  in  order  to  prevent  competition. 
Our  Post-master  General  had  also  been  awake,  and 
had  set  his  heart  on  making  the  telegraph  system 
national,  in  common  with  the  mail  service.  He  took 
the  Secretary  of  War  into  his  confidence,  and  between 
them  they  concocted  their  plans  of  action. 

It  happened  that  the  inventor  of  a  successful  field 
gun  had  sold  his  rights  to  the  French  Government,  and 
the  French,  to  prevent  the  other  governments  from 
using  them  had  impudently  patented  them  in  Ger- 
many, England  and  the  United  States.  Of  course,  on 
the  ground  of  not  putting  the  article  on  the  market, 
the  patent  could  be  attacked,  but  all  the  same  it  af- 
forded the  desired  excuse. 

Our  Secretary  of  War,  on  the  pretence  that  he  was 
after  this  foreign  ordinance,  got  a  measure  through 
Congress  to  the  effect  that  whenever  the  holder  of  any 
patent  or  an  invention  in  the  United  States  failed  or 
neglected  to  put  the  patented  article  in  the  market, 
and  give  the  general  public  an  opportunity  to  purchase 
the  same  at  fair  prices,  then  the  United  States  could  at 
its  option  confiscate  the  patent,  and  itself  manufacture 
as  it  chose  the  article,  and  develop  the  invention  for 
79 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

tfc«  benefit  of  the  people,  or  for  the  advantage  of  the 
public  services. 

The  Telegraph  Monopoly  was  caught  napping.  Our 
government  appropriated  the  wireless  telegraphy 
pateats. 

As  fast  as  the  Post  Office  Department  could  manu- 
facture the  machines,  system  after  system  was  in- 
stalled, and  the  public  were  given  a  "twenty-five 
words  for  a  nickef'service.  Of  course,  big  lawsuits 
followed  and  the  Telegraph  Combine  did  its  best  by 
competition  and  other  methods  not  mentionable  to 
hold  their  monopoly,  but,  for  once,  the  government 
triumphed.  The  main  reason  for  the  victory  was  that 
the  government  intended  and  desired  to  win.  And  so 
it  came  about  that  their  thousands  of  miles  of  wire 
were  reduced  to  scrap  and  were  left  to  rust  in  the 
ocean  of  watered  stock  of  the  great  Telegraph  Mon- 
opoly. 


80 


CHAPTER  X. 


Vera  and  Mr.  White  were  both  engaged  in  the  after- 
noon of  next  day,  and  so  I  started  out  by  myself  to 
see  what  I  could  discover. 

The  general  locality  I  fairly  understood  but  I  felt 
that  the  present  roads  were  new  to  me,  the  oM  land- 
marks lost,  and  the  possibility  of  losing  myself  w«s 
certainly  existant.  I  announced  my  intention  to  Vera, 
and  at  the  same  time  cautioned  her  not  to  lock  me  <mt 
if  I  failed  to  return  before  dark.  As  there  was  noth- 
ing stronger  than  a  curtain  to  close  any  doorway  in 
the  house,  my  absolute  and  forcible  exclusion  was  not 
very  probable,  but  if  I  were  delayed,  my  friends  might 
be  disturbed  at  my  absence. 

"  No,  I  hope  to  be  in  by  supper-time,  but  possibly 
I  may  go  astray,  so  don't  worry  about  me." 

"That  will  be  all  right!  we  won't  worry.  If  you 
miss  your  way  and  night  overtakes  you,  step  in  at  any 
house  near  you,  tell  them  you  need  the  kindness  of 
their  hospitality,  and,  I  assure  you,  they  will  consider 
it  a  real  pleasure  to  shelter  you  as  long  as  you  may 
care  to  stay.  Don't  for  a  moment  deem  yourself  an 
intruder,  you  will  be  sincerely  welcomed.  If  you  are 
hungry,  pick  from  the  trees  by  the  roadside  what  you 
wish,  it  is  yours.  If  you  are  not  home  by  nightfall, 
81 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

if  you  go  astray,  if  anything  that  entertains  you  keeps 
you,  don't  let  any  supposition  of  our  anxiety  mar  your 
pleasure,  you  will  be  back  to-morrow." 

When  I  first  thought  tc  '  o  for  a  stroll,  I  had  not  the 
least  intention  of  going  very  *«r,  and  it  was  only  super- 
lative caution  that  led  me  tc  ...  ntion  to  Vera  the  pos- 
sibility of  my,  being  bebV: :  But,  as  I  sauntered  up 
the  road  and  past  the  Pc  st  Office,  the  idea  began  to 
grow  on  me  that  it  might  be  interesting  to  put  into 
execution  Vera's  unintended  suggestion,  and  investi- 
gate Rochester  suburbs  by  starlight. 

All  the  same  as  it  was  not  yet  three  o'clock,  there 
were  still  some  hours  of  daylight,  and  plenty  of  time 
for  repentance  and  to  rescind  the  resolution  should  I 
think  better  of  it. 

I  had  learned  enough  in  my  walk  with  Vera,  to 
return  the  greetings  of  the  strangers  I  met. 

In  fact,  I  so  far  had  grown  up  and  through  the  clay- 
cold  conventionalities  of  the  old  civilization  as  to  look 
upon  a  formal  introduction  as  totally  unnecessary,  and 
to  take  for  granted  a  willingness  to  reciprocate  in 
kindness.  It  was  thus  without  hesitation  that  I  ap- 
plied for  any  desired  information  to  any  one  I  chanced 
to  accost. 

The  uniform  courtesy  and  consideration  I  exper- 
ienced, I  still  recall  with  distinct  pleasure. 

Sometimes  I  would  overtake  or  be  overtaken  by  a 
fellow  traveller,  but  though  I  was  a  perfect  stranger, 
I  was  treated  with  cordiality  and  in  a  manner  totally 
lacking  offishness  or  suspicion. 
82 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
To  a  few  whom  I  met,  my  history  was  to  some  ex- 
tent  famihar  and  these  manifested  a  great  interest  in 
me.  Still,  they  showed  no  disposition  to  be  curious 
or  mquisitive.  and  their  few  and  polite  questions  were 
so  expressed  as  to  be  neither  distasteful  nor  unwar- 
ranted by  the  dictates  of  best  breeding.  But  it  was 
not  so  much  their  politeness  as  their  hearty  concern 
for  my  own  com.rrt,  that  impressed  me. 

I  must  have  traveled  nine  or  ten  miles  from  home, 
and  was  balancing  in  my  mind  the  question  of  a  return 
or  a  continuance  of  my  journey,  when  three  young 
Iad.es  overtook  me.  I  was  going  to  speak  of  them  as 
girls,  for  they  had  the  vigor  and  freshness,  the  buoy- 
ancy  and  spirit  of  a  lass  of  sixteen,  yet  their  growth 
and  figure  betokened  over  twenty.  All  three  were 
decdedly  handsome,  and  with  a  grace  and  style  that 
would  demand  more  than  a  passing  look  in  the  swellest 
ball-room  of  old  Rochester. 

I  suppose  that  their  absolute  unconsciousness  of  my 
emharrasanent  at  the  situation,  (for  in  spite  of  my 
boastmg.  I  was  decidedly  taken  aback  at  this  wind- 
tall  of  loveliness)  carried  us  all  with  surprising  ease 
across  the  delicate  first  steps  of  acquaintanceship. 
But  so  ,t  was  for  ere  we  had  gone  many  yards  to- 
gether, we  had  become  like  old  companions. 

Their  way  had  a  sort  of  cousinly  comraderie  about 
t  a  natural  and  to  be  expected  fellowship  that  robbed 
their  pleasing  sociability  of  any  grating  undertone  in- 
duced by  forwardness  and  ill-manners 
It  is  of  no  interest,  the  many  things  of  which  we 
83 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

talked,  mainly  of  those  trifles  that  pave  the  way  to 
better  acquaintanceship.  But  even  concerning  these 
to  them  commonplaces,  I  was  so  ignorant,  and  had  in 
so  many  ways  to  guard  and  check  myself  to  avoid 
some  ridiculous  mistake,  that  at  least  in  sheer  justice 
to  my  intelligence  I  made  a  clear  confession  of  my  in- 
ability to  follow  rationally  some  of  their  remarks,  and 
told  the  whole  reason. 

"  Then  you  are  indeed  a  stranger." 

"  But  you  won't  go  back  to  Mr.  White's  this  even- 
ing?" 

"  No,  I  don't  think  I  will  return  till  morning.  This 
air  is  so  pleasant,  I  will  lie  down  later  on,  and  sleep 
under  some  bush  for  the  night." 

"  Bush  I  Nothing  of  the  sort,  you  will  sleep  with 
us." 

"  Yes,  come  along,  we  are  going  just  over  yonder  to 
the  Archibalds  to  tea,  and  they  will  be  glad  to  have 
the  stranger  from  Mars." 

"  Can  you  dance?  " 

"  Dance?  "  I  replied,  and  certainly  it  was  to  me  the 
most  amusing  question  of  all  the  many  strange  inter- 
rogations I  had  heard  that  day.  "  Why,  I  thought  you 
were  all  good  now,  surely  yor  don't  dance  ?  " 

"  But  who  said  dancing  was  not  good?  " 

"Is  it  good  now?" 

"  Certainly,  we  all  dance" 

"  Polkas,  lancers,  waltzes?" 

"  Yes." 

"Then  I  am  glad  I  came." 
84 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

"Their  momentary  serioutnest  simmered  into  • 
■mile.  I  was  their  willing  prisoner.  And  so,  as  we 
went  along  we  improved  our  acquaintanceship. 

1  had  been  on  the  point  of  relating  a  few  of  the 
ancient  prejudices  and  objections  urged  in  my  day 
by  many  worthy  people  upon  the  inadvisability  of 
dancing,  but  something  restrained  me. 
We  had  now  reached  our  destination. 
The  Archibald  property  was  a  little  larger  than  the 
ordinary  and  more  than  usually  wooded. 

As  we  entered  the  grounds,  we  heard  proceeding 
from  a  shed  on  our  left,  some  hammering  which  might 
indicate  that  carpenters  were  at  work. 

The  young  ladies  decided  that  it  was  a  fit  matter 
for  investigation,  and,  with  an  air  of  familiarity  which 
showed  them  perfectly  at  home  on  the  premises,  they 
followed  up  the  sound  until  they  discovered  the 
authors. 

The  creators  of  the  commotion  were  found  to  be 
the  two  young  men  of  the  family,  amateur  mechanics 
both,  and  busily  intent  upon  the  work  before  them. 

When  I  was  formally  introduced,  the  lads  began 
enthusiastically  to  describe  and  explain  the  merits  and 
purposes  of  their  invention.  That  they  were  ingenious 
was  evident,  but  that  they  were  not  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  contrivances  in  use  in  my  time 
(it  was  a  convenient  phrase)  was  also  apparent. 

It  did  not  at  all  hurt  their  feelings  when  I  pointed 
out  such  of  their  ideas  as  had  been  anticipated,  though 
It  was  only  at  their  direct  request  that  I  did  so  and 
85 


•"WOeOW  MSOtUTWN   TiSI  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


APPLIED  IN/MGE    In 

1653  East  Uo!n  Strati 
RochMt«r,   N««r  York         14609       US* 
(716)  482  -  0300  -  Phon,  ^^ 

(716)   288- 5989 -Fg. 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

explained  the  features  of  similarity.  It  was  enough 
to  them  that  the  discovery  was,  on  their  part,  original, 
and  had  their  next  neighbor  forestalled  them  in  every 
particular  by  inventions  upon  the  same  lines,  I  doubt 
if  they  would  have  bestowed  on  him  worse  than  con- 
gratulations. 

This  entire  absence  of  envy  I  exceedingly  admired 
in  the  fellows,  and  when  on  a  still  severer  test  of 
friendliness,  I  pointed  out,  under  persuasion,  some 
further  improvements  somewhat  diminishing  the  value 
of  their  own  ideas,  th^  accepted  it  all  in  good  part, 
assuredly  exhibiting  a  spirit  that  certified  them  of  the 
brotherhood. 

This  incident  accentuated  a  fact  I  had  both  before 
and  after  this  occasion  noticed,  namely,  that  among  all 
the  people  I  met,  I  found,  whether  in  work,  games,  or 
play,  an  utter  and  entire  absence  of  rivalry,  competi- 
tion, envy,  or  striving  for  a  selfish  precedence. 

As  it  was  about  tea-time,  and  as  our  intrusion  upon 
the  haunts  of  industry  had  called  a  halt  to  laborious 
deeds,  we  adjourned  our  chatter  to  the  dwelling  where 
I  met  the  household  assembled. 

The  elders,  others  of  the  family  and  a  few  neigh- 
bors made  in  all  with  ourselves,  about  fifteen  at  tea. 
It  was  a  merry  meal,  myself  in  just  as  happy  a  mood 
as  any  of  them. 

It  took  the  young  ladies  an  exceptionally  short  time 
to  dress  for  the  ball.  A  re-adjustment  of  their  hair, 
some  magnificent  roses,  and  a  broad  braided  belt  or 

86 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

girdle  constituted  about  all  the  features  additional  to 
their  afternoon  toilet. 

It  was  quite  dark  at  half  past  seven,  when  we  left 
the  house. 

I  had  such  a  hazy  idea  of  the  prospective  entertain- 
ment, that  I  discreetly  held  my  tongue,  willing  that 
the  future  should  unfold  its  own  programme. 

We  had  gone  down  the  road  about  half  a  mile,  when, 
to  our  right,  the  liphts  glowing  and  the  merry  voices 
and  echoing  laughter  clearly  disclosed  that  yonder, 
amid  a  grove  of  second  growth  hardwood  neatly  kept.' 
was  the  place  we  sought. 

There  was  no  show  of  gaudy  paint,  no  turrets,  nor 
Turkish  towers,  nor  minarets  obtruded  themselves; 
no  fluttering  flags. 

A  perfect  floor,  about  two  hundred  feet  in  length 
by  one  hundred  broad,  unbroken  by  a  single  pillar 
but  covered  by  a  many  gabled  roof  combining  the 
Norwegian  sharpness  with  the  curving  Swiss  was 
there  before  us.  Its  unafTected  simplicity  was  com- 
pletely in  taste  with  its  sylvan  setting. 

The  trussed  interior  was  interlaced  with  a  woven 
network  of  rustic  arches,  which  quite  concealed  the 
massiveness  of  the  necessary  framing. 

The  side  walls,  between  the  upholding  posts,  were 
open  to  the  air,  with  only  a  rustic  railing  to  mark  the 
margin.  Delicate  vines,  and  flowers  of  every  hue  had 
found  their  way  above  the  railing,  and  hung  in 
testooned  splendor  even  from  the  topmost  roof. 
Suspended  in  profusion  throughout  the  building,  and 
87 


1^^ 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

scattered  here  and  there  among  the  trees,  were  dainty 
opal  lights  that  gave  to  the  conjoint  panorama  a 
brightness  and  a  glow  of  fairy  beauty. 

There  is  something  about  a  stranger  that  always 
marks  him  out  as  such,  however  large  the  gathering. 
But  the  only  recognition  I  had  of  my  singularity  was 
that  my  friends  left  me  neither  lime  nor  opportunity 
to  ijalize  the  fact. 

The  short  interval  before  the  music  struck  up  we 
spent  in  walking  about  and  admiring  the  grounds  iH 
in  making  acquaintances. 

My  partner  and  guide,  one  of  the  three  I  had  met  a 
few  hours  before,  and  to  be  still  more  specific,  the 
blackeyed  damsel  who  had  asked  me  if  I  could  dance, 
undertook  to  do  the  honors  for  me,  and  gave  to  those 
to  whom  I  was  presented  not  so  much  a  formal  in- 
troduction as  a  little  bit  of  brief  biography.  Of 
course,  these  were  to  but  a  few  out  of  all  those  two 
hundred  present,  but,  as  naturally  and  without  vanity, 
I  may  say  I  was  to  some  extent  an  object  of  interest 
and  conversation,  I  found  afterward  the  basis  of 
acquaintanceship  already  established  when,  without 
further  ceremony  I  chanced  to  speak  to  others. 

I  must  confess  I  was  at  first  disappointed  with  the 
music. 

That  enchanting  grove,  where,  from  the  boughs 
hung  pearly  star  fruit  pendants,  or  through  which  the 
lights  like  giant  glow-worms  lay  in  ambush  for  the 
shadows,  that  flower-doomed  roof  with  floor  beneath 

88 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

like  amber-glass,  I  had  thought  to  hear  a  kingly 
orchestra  and  truly  royal  music. 

I  showed  my  ill-manners  by  remarking  my  disap- 
pointment. 

There  was  a  touch  of  sadness  in  my  companion's 
face  as  she  replied : — 

"  Vou  forget  we  are  only  beginning  yet." 
"  Ah." 

And  then  I  remembered  that  the  professional,  like 
other  things  of  the  former  days,  had  passed  away,  that 
those  who  labored,  worked  for  love  and  not  for  pay. 

For  amateurs  the  music  certainly  was  fair.  It 
lacked  a  certain  finish  in  execution,  but  then  it  showed 
an  intensity  and  movement  that  certified  the  players 
enamored  of  their  art. 

"I  have  done  my  entertainers  an  injustice  artd  I 
want  you  to  forget  what  I  have  said." 

"  You  see,"  she  continued,  "  they  are  just  ourselves. 
The  few  who  have  learned  to  play,  have  brought  such 
instruments  as  they  possess.  Some  play  while  others 
danc-.  They  take  turn  about.  One  of  'our  carpen- 
ters, I  thmk,  is  playing  with  them  now." 

"  Yes,  I  forgot.  It  seems  but  yesterday  I  had  lis- 
tened to  our  swell  theatre  orchestras,  and  in  this  lovely 
place,  I  thought  nothing  but  Sousa's  Band  would  fit 
the  occasion." 

"  I  know,  I  know,  you  didn't  understand;  but  never 
mind,  and  yet,  tell  me,  how  would  you  improve  it?" 
"Do  you  want  me  to  criticise  it?" 
"  Criticism  as  a  help  is  a  favor." 
89 


AFTER    THE   CATACLYSM 

"  Well  then,  in  the  first  place,  there  is  too  much 
string  in  it.    That  solo  violinist  is  certainly  a  very  fine 
player,  he  is  music  to  the  heart's  core,  and,  in  a  smaller 
room,  he  would  be  good,  but  this  open  place  gives  him 
a  disadvantage.    Nothing  but  reeds  and  brass  will  fill 
this  space.     It  is  practically  outdoors  with  the  sur- 
rounding trees  to  strengthen  and  hold  up  the  smaller 
instruments.     Playing  from  that  central  raised  plat- 
form, and  with  all  those  vines  about,  the  music  has 
nothing  behind  to  throw  it,  and  much  is  lost  too  in  the 
leafy  roof  above." 
"  Then  you  have  played  yourself?  " 
"  Yes,  I  have  done  a  little.    I  have  played  in  and 
led  a  military  band  in  the  militia,  once  upon  a  time; 
still,  of  course,  I  suppose  things  are  different  now. 
But  that  music  makes  me  wish  I  had  my  cornet  back 
again." 
"  Was  that  what  you  played  in  the  L>and  ?  " 
"  Yes,  they  were  once  so  foolish  as  to  give  me  solo 
cornet." 
"  You  never  playsd  a  violin  ?  " 
"  No,  though  I  did  a  little  on  the  flute." 
"  And  if  you  had  your  comet  back  again — ?  " 
"  I  would  try  to  coax  the  fellows  to  let  me  join  the 
band." 
"Wouldn't  you  rather  dance?" 
"  No.    Oh,  well,  turn  about,  but  say,  have  you  the 
entree  to  the  orchestra  balcony?" 
"  Now  you  want  to  run  away  from  me." 
"  No.    Now  it's  you  that  is  cruel.    I  only  want  just 
90 


^FTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

to  look  in,  not  that  I  suppose  that  they  would  take  me 
on  the  strength." 

"  Well,  come  recruit." 

This  was  between  the  dances. 

About  the  centre  of  the  building,  on  the  north  side, 
we  found  among  the  vines  a  narrow  stair  which  led  to 
the  balcony  above. 

As  we  reached  the  upper  step,  we  met  a  young  man 
about  to  come  down. 

"  Oh,  Charlie,"  said  my  pilot,  "we  just  wanted  you 
Are  you  busy?" 

"  Never." 

"  I  have  brought  you  an  old  bandsman  of  the  last 
century— do  you  remember  Vera  White's  friend?" 

"  Very  glad  to  meet  you.  Won't  you  both  come  in 
and  see  us  ?  " 

"  Do  you  know  he  has  been  criticising  your  music?  " 

"See  how  my  sins  have  found  me  out.  But,  in 
revealing  my  ignorance,  I  have  already  endured  my 
punishment." 

"I  am  sure  there  are  many  things  in  our  music 
that  will  justify  criticism— and  what  did  he  say?" 

"  He  said  he  wanted  to  join." 

"  Then  join  he  shall." 

"  But  Charlie,  after  he  criticised  your  music ; " 

"Just  the  man  we  want,"  and  without  further  ado, 
he  reached  out  a  hand  to  each  of  us  and  drew  us  into 
the  gallery  square. 

"  A  bandsman  of  the  last  century." 

"  A  bandmaster  of  the  year  '94,"  added  my  indorser. 
91 


m 


MM 


PI  I 


>  'Mi  ' 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

"  I  certainly  was  given  a  cordial  welcome,  and  be- 
iore  the  next  number  struck  up,  was  sworn  a  true 
and  trusty  kinsman  of  the  order. 

There  was  no  instrument  there  that  I  could  play. 
A  violin  or  'cello  was  not  in  my  line,  and,  in  any  event 
not  a  scrap  of  music  was  visible. 

It  was  time  by  now  to  warm  the  wax  again,  and  I 
wanted  to  see  them  start. 

They  could  all  play  by  note,  I  understood,  but,  fol- 
lowing the  solo,  each  one  took  his  part,  and  picked 
the  harmony  by  ear. 

It  was  a  thing  impossible  to  do  with  absolute  cor- 
rectness, to  preserve  the  balance  of  the  chords,  and 
not  to  trespass  upon  another's  note.  I  marvelled  at 
the  ear  that  they  displayed,  the  almost  intuition  with 
which  they  judged  the  harmonies  and  musical  pro- 
gression all  seemed  alike  to  anticipate. 

It  is  one  thing  to  throw  in  a  "second  "  to  a  familiar 
melody,  a  totally  dififerent  task  to  create  a  score  to 
embrace  an  orchestration  of  ten  different  instruments. 
Given  such  innate  talent,  training  and  the  proper  in- 
struments and  music  would  make  a  band  to  beat  the 
world. 

"  Come,  let  us  go  down  and  finish  this  waltz." 

"  With  pleasure." 

The  narrow  stair  descended,  away  we  drifted  on  that 
glittering  surface,  borne  on  the  pinions  of  the  dreamy 
melody,  away  and  among  that  multitude  of  joyous 
faces,  eddies  of  happiness  upon  a  sea  of  purest  pleas- 
ure. 

92 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

I  must  have  been  preoccupied,  rudely  so,  for  when 
we  stopped  a  moment,  I  was  rallied  on  my  silence- 
"  I  was  thinking." 

"  Does  it  always  affect  you  that  way?  " 
"  No,  but  I  have  a  little  scheme  on  hand." 
"  Open  your  palm  then  and  let  us  see." 
"  I  will  think  it  over  a  little  first,  where  will  I  see 
you  and  Charlie  in  the  morning?" 

"  Yoti  will  see  me  at  breakfast  if  you  will  come  home 
with  me  this  evening  and  honor  our  roof  with  your 
company  over  night." 
"  I  will  be  delighted  to  see  you  home,  but—" 
"  There  is  no  '  but,'  and  surely  you  would  not  leave 
me  at  the  door  step.    Of  course,  you  will  stay  with 
us,  and  my  mother  and  sisters— to  be  sure  you  will. 
My  mother  would,  I  know,  like  to  meet  you,  and  then 
your  scheme,- we  will  have  that  in  the  morning,  and 
Charlie  is  less  than  a  mile  away.    There  is  still  a 
little  of  this  waltz  left,  and  I  like  your  step.    Do  you 
notice  how  ours  is  a  lit'Je  longer  and  more  sideways?  " 
"  Yes,  we  used  to  call  that  the  'English  glide.'    My 
own  has  a  touch  of  the  shorter  curved  movement  of  the 
■  Boston'  in  it." 

I  met  some  very  fine  dancers  on  the  floor  that  even- 
ing; they  were  all  good  dancers.  They  seemed  to 
have  an  instinct  of  rhythmic  motion  in  them  that 
made  their  every  movement  responsive  to  the  music. 
It  was  not  so  much  that  they  knew  the  step.  Simply 
they  floated  on  the  melody.  When  here  it  hovered  as 
m  hesitation,  the  indecision  held  them  balanced  with 
93 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

an  equal  pause,  or,  else  again,  it  caught  them  with  a 
stronger  grasp,  and  swung  in  swifter  circles  the  puls- 
ing feet  that  swept  the  floor.  In  truth,  it  was  not 
that  they  walked  or  hopped,  as  books  would  teach  the 
step,  they  danced,— as  a  bird  soars  in  the  sky,  as  a 
salmon  in  the  stream,  as  creatures  in  their  native  ele- 
ments, strong,  lithesome,  graceful,  it  was  the  acme  of 
terrestrial  motion- 
Some  of  the  figures  and  steps  were  new  to  me. 
They  had  abandoned  the  fancy  additions  to  the  lan- 
ders, and  had  returned  to  the  old  original. 

One  very  pretty  thing  was  a  square  with  at  least 
sixteen  couples.  It  needed  plenty  of  room,  went  to 
schottische  music  and  was  danced  with  the  two  move- 
ments of  the  militaire.  It  was  so  new  to  me  that  I 
failed  to  follow  it  fully.  One  figure  somewhat  re- 
sembled the  'grand  square,'  though  it  was  m  double 
couples  instead  of  partners  dividing.  The  '  half  right 
and  left  across'  with  all  joined  hands  and  preserving 
their  proper  spaces  and  alignment  was  pretty  to  watch, 
but  surprisingly  difficult  to  execute. 

The  third  figure,  with  a  similarity  to  the  old  'cart 
wheel,'  was  perhaps  the  most  attractive,  as  the  radia- 
ting couples  instead  of  completing  the  circumference 
took  the  '  kick  '  step  all  circling  to  right  two  steps, 
then  to  left  the  same,  twice ;  and  then  in  'partners  to 
places'  shot  out  from  the  centre  in  straight  lines  like 
the  explosion  of  a  rocket. 

Another  figure,  somewhat  the  reverse  of  the  third,  I 
felt  like  naming  the  '  Union  Jack '  was  danced  from 
94 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
the  eight  points,  all  crossing  at  the  centre  by  '>'l  coup- 
les together.  There  was  a  suggestion  of '  ladie^  -hain  ' 
in  the  way  approaching  couples  passed  each  other,  the 
disengaged  left  hand  o.  the  gentlemen  high  in  air, 
touching  as  they  swung. 

The   neat  execution   of  these  spectacular  dances 
would   have   done   credit   to    Barnum   and    Bailey's 
Nero;"  and  evidenced  intellijjence  and  inspiration, 
and  incidentally,  a  good  deal  of  practice. 

I  must  admit  that,  attractive  though  the  floor  was, 
I  spent  fully  a  quarter  of  my  time  up  with  my  friends 
in  the  orchestra.  The  view,  too,  from  the  balconv  was 
very  engaging. 

Although  the  simplicity  of  the  costume  gave  only  a 
single  color  to  each  dancer,  yet  the  various  tints  from 
purest  dazzling  white  to  deep  maroon  and  purple,  from 
the  daintiest  shades  of  cream  and  lavender  to  royal 
b  ue  and  gorgeous  crimson  made,  as  they  intermin- 
gled,  a  kaleidoscopic  panorama  of  eastern  splendor 

I  had  just  got  back  to  my  partner  of  the  first  dance, 
my  chaperon  and  pilot,  and  we  had  just  finished  a 
swinging  '  deux  temps. ' 
Those  couples  strolling  about  the  grounds  came  in. 
Mow  all  were  silent. 
"  This  is  the  end,  "  said  my  partner. 
One  note,  the  herald  of  a  heavy  chord,  and  as  each 
voice  took  up  the  sound,  with  a  grandeur  that  held 
me  spell-bound,  two  hundred  throats  i„  song  rang 
forth  that  wondrous  music  of  the  "Anthem  of  the 
Ages.       Only  an  eight  line  verse;  but  while  I  may 
95  ' 


i" 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

describe  the  thrill,  the  effect,  it  had  upon  me,  there  is 
nothing  in  nineteenth  century  harmony  to  serve  as 
parallel.  The  energy  of  the  Russian  Hymn,  the  sweet- 
ness of  Schubert  ;-but  it  is  impossible.  We  know  the 
heat  and  brightness  of  the  Sun,  but  who  can  paint 
His  glory.  So,  too,  there  are  things  that,  should  we 
strive  to  drape  them  in  our  language,  only  consume 
our  words,  as  molten  iron  turns  to  ashes  the  feeble 
cloth  laid  on  to  cover  it. 


'il! 


I 


96 


CHAPTER  XI. 


It  was  many  momenta  before  Jean  Blair  and  I  walk- 
ing home  together  broke  the  silence. 

What  her  thoughts  were  I  cannot  divine;  but  the 
feeling  that  subdued  my  spirit  was  not  so  much  an 
oppressive  awe,  such  as  some  solemn  music  or  event 
may  produce  as  of  a  happiness  that  in  its  greatness 
seemed  almost  a  burden. 

As  if  a  simple  child  had  received  some  gift  that 
over-spanned  its  every  expectation  or  imagination,  and 
stands  spell-bound,  dumb  to  the  very  thanks  it  owes 
the  donor;  so  the  pleasure  of  the  evening  culminating 
in  that  ecstatic  song  to  the  Great  Giver  of  all  Good 
rhings,  left  me  oblivious  to  all  but  my  meritless  con- 
dition, even  to  contain  the  overflowing  measure  of 
His  Bounty. 

A  sound  and  dreamless  sleep,  and  I  awoke  in  the 
morning  refreshed  and  without  a  bodily  suggestion  of 
my  long  walk  or  of  my  exertions  of  the  evening 

Jean  followed  me  out  and  joined  me  just  after 
breakfast. 

"And  now.  Sir  Knight,  has  that  plan  sufficiently 
matured  to  warrant  its  disclosure?" 
"  How  far  is  it  from  here  to  Mr.  White's?" 
"  Homesick  so  soon  ?  " 

97 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
"  No,  but  they  will  expect  me  this  morning,  and  I 
do  not  want  them  to  be  put  to  any  anxiety  on  my 
account. " 
"  Ten  miles. " 

"  Then  I  will  make  my  apologies  just  now  to  your 
mother,  walk  down  and  report,  and  return  shortly. " 
"  You  can  telegraph  'all  well.'  " 
"  I  have  no  money. " 

"  Money?  it  does  not  need  money  to  telegraph. " 
"No?    But  I  must  find  out  first  from  Mr.  White 
some  things. "  ' 

"  Perhaps  we  can  obtain  the  information  for  you 
without  so  much  trouble- " 

"  I'm  afraid  not.  I  would  like  though  first  to  see 
Charlie. " 

"  And  you  are  leaving  me  out  of  the  secret? 
"  Wail  till  I  cook  my  cake.    If  it  turns  out  all  right 
you  shall  have  a  frosted  slice.  " 

"  Very  well ;  but  I  will  have  the  satisfaction  of  help- 
ing to  cook  it  by  finding  Chariie  for  you.  Will  we  go 
now?" 

"  I  am  yours  to  obey.  " 

It  was  not  long  till  success  rewarded  our  search. 
I  talked  over  my  little  plan  with  Chariie  for  some 
moments,  while   Miss  Jean,   with   a  well   simulated 
pout,  pretended  to  cool  her  dignity  at  a  distance. 
"  Ready?  " 

"Coming;  all  through." 

She  heard  Charlie's   last  words:— "I  don't  know 
where  you  can  get  them,  but  perhaps  Mr.  White  can 
96 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

help  us.     But,  if  you  can  manage  it,  old  fellow,  count 
on  all  of  us.  " 
"  Thanks ;  I  knew  you  would  come  into  it !  " 
"  And  can't  I  come  into  it  too?  " 
"  If  you're  good.  " 
"  Are  you  off  so  soon? " 

"Yes;  I  must  go  now  to  see  Mr.  White.    May  I 
have  the  pleasure  of  walking  home  first  with  you,  Miss 
Jean?" 
"  Delighted. " 

Just  as  we  went  out  of  the  yard,  Charlie  called  out;— 
"  Why  not  get  a  ride  down  on  the  Aero?    It  stops 
just  beyond  Jean's  house  in  about  a  half  hour,  and 
will  alight  you  right  at  home.  " 
"  Is  that  another  of  the  things  that  cost  nothing?  " 
"  Nothing  costs  anything.    If  any  of  the  services 
can  oblige  you  they  count  it  a  pleasure-    They  exist 
to  contribute  to  people's  happiness.  " 
"  Will  you  be  back  this  evening?  "  asked  Jean 
"  I  hardly  know.  " 
"  Bring  Vera  with  you.  " 

"Shall  I?    Thank  you;  if  she  can  make  it  conven- 
ient; after  I  see  Mr.  White  you  will  hear  from  us.  " 
We  soon  arrived  at  the  Aero  landing. 
"  How  many  passengers  will  it  carry;  Miss  Jean?" 
"  About  four,  not  including  the  driver.  " 
When  the  Aero  alighted,  the  driver  proved  to  be 
the  young  man  whose  acquaintance  I  had  made  a  few 
days  previously.     He  was  alone  and  seemed  pleased 
to  have  company. 

99 


i!iiii{ ;  ii 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
The  seat  assigned  me  was  just  in  front  of  his  own. 
It  was  explained  to  me  that  not  more  than  two  could 
ride  in  the  lower  cage.  Additional  weights  or  passen- 
gers were  placed  above,  around  the  bulb  or  air  cham- 
ber. 

As  the  fans  started  to  whirr,  Jean  called  out  to 

hold  on  tight. 

I  dared  not  let  go  to  wave  a  parting  salute  and  I  am 
sure  my  desperate  grip  and  set  expression  must  have 
afforded  some  amusement  to  the  bystanders. 

As  we  gathered  speed  and  took  the  leap  into  empty 
air,  I  held  my  breath  and  looked  dizzily  down  through 
the  grated  flooring  at  the  fields  and  bushes  whizzing 

past. 

However,  my  terror  was  but  momentary. 

The  seasick,  undulating  motion  I  had  anticipated 
was  pleasantly  absent.  Instead,  the  feeling  was  that 
of  riding  in  a  well  cushioned  Pullman  over  a  new  steel 
rail  on  a  perfect  track-  There  was  no  sensation  of  a 
perilous  suspension  over  some  bottomless  abyss.  Per- 
haps it  might  recall  crossing  in  a  railway  car  a  deep 
valley  spanned  by  some  lofty  trestle;  but  the  im- 
pression was  that  an  invisible  solid  bore  the  Aero  up 
and  gave  its  transparent  track  as  a  safe  and  perfect 
surface  along  and  upon  which  our  vehicle  sped  for- 
ward. 

The  only  disagreeable  sensation  was  when  we 
alighted ;  that  lit'le  tilt  and  settling  before  we  touched 
the  ground;  a  feeling  like  in  a  quickly  descending 
elevator. 

100 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 

As  we  gathered  headway,  the  wind  began  to  whistle 
past  us  like  a  hurricane ;  and  for  my  comfort  the  driver 
pulled  down  the  side  panels  of  celluloid,  or  whatever 
the  transparent  material  was,  and  also  the  panel  be- 
hind us.  This  gave  a  clear  view  in  front  and  pro- 
tected us  from  the  breeze.  It  also,  resultantly,  as  the 
rear  panel  went  into  place,  gave  the  Aero  a  slight 
dip  downward;  but  this  was  quickly  compensated  by 
a  movement  of  the  horizontal  rudder. 

The  journey  lasted  only  about  five  minutes. 

Thanking  the  driver  for  his  kindness,  I  was  soon 
at  home  again. 


101 


CHAPTER  XII. 


It  was  yet  early  in  the  forenoon  'vhen  I  reached 

home. 

I  soon  found  Mr.  White,  reading  and  comfortably 
seated  in  a  big  arm-chair  in  his  usual  retreat. 

His  back  was  to  nie  as  I  entered,  and  so  interested 
j      1  in  the  enjoyable  book  was  he,  that  he  did  not  notice 

my  approach. 

I  had  the  ill  manners  to  glance  over  his  shoulder 
and  see  the  subject  of  his  study.  The  open  page  was 
at  the  last  chapter  of  the  Prophet  Isaiah. 

As  I  spoke  he  looked  up. 

"  So  you  have  brought  the  old  Book  through  the 

fire?" 
"Yes;  history   repeats   itself: — nee  lamen  cotuume- 

batur."  .    . 

"  Well ;  I  am  glad  to  see  it ;  and  yet  I  must  admit 
I  was  a  poor  student.  As  for  the  Old  Testament,  it 
was  to  me  dryest  of  the  dry. " 

"  I  believe  you,  my  friend,  that  such  was  your  feel- 
ing. But,  did  you  ever  see  one  of  those  'lightning 
sketch  '  chalk  drawings,  made  by  some  able  character- 
artist?  Here  and  there  are  lines,  those  short  and  zig- 
zag, others  great  swelling  sweeps  that  cover  the  board 
from  end  to  end. 

102 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

"  The  audience  puzzles  to  anticipate  the  coming  pic- 
ture ;  the  design  is  one  vast  hieroglyphic ;  when,  pres- 
to! a  mouth  line  here,  and  there,  above,  an  eye,  and 
behold,  the  portrait  clear  and  understandable,  com- 
plete. So  with  the  Prophesies  and,  to  some  extent, 
the  whole  Book. 

"  But,  since  your  day,  many  deep  lines  have  been 
burnt  into  the  page  of  history.  Now,  the  wise  begin 
to  understand.  With  different  mind  we  look  differ- 
ently into  the  things  written.  The  'eye'  has  been 
added,  and  soon,  very  soon,  will  come  the  'mouth ' 
the  Word  which  will  explain  to  the  world  this  mighty 
portrait  of  Man.  Perhaps,  my  friend,  -;  our  leisure 
we  will  read  the  Book  together;  and  maybe  if  will 
interest  you, — now." 

"  I  really  think  it  will,  Mr.  White ;  and  I  will  ap- 
preciate the  privilege.    Are  many  copies  to  be  had?  " 

"They  can  be  got;  and,  no  doubt,  a  great  many 
thousands  are  to  be  obtained  for  the  searching  in  the 
abandoned  dwc:;ngs  of  the  old  towns  and  cities  now 
forsaken. " 

"But  they  would  belong  to  the  owners?" 

"  Not  necessarily.  A  thing  abandoned  voluntarily, 
with  intention  to  .please  it,  may  be  appropriated  by 
the  first  one  who  chooses  to  convert  it  to  his  own  use. 
The  shops,  warehouses  and  libraries  over  yonder  are 
full  of  goods  without  an  owner.  They  are  as  free 
to  the  taker  as  are  the  shells  on  the  seashore.  Much 
once  worth  hundreds  of  dollars  has  now  no  value 
sufficient  to  warrant  the  carrying  away  and  the  bur- 
103 


;■     i 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 


Nil :  ■  ! 


What 


dening  of  the  acquisitor  with  the  accumulation, 
once  was  of  value  may  now  be  worthless. 

"Those  very  shells,  yesterday  the  home,  the  life 
protection,  of  their  molusk  tenanU,  to-morrow  may 
be  empty  and  of  no  avail  to  anyone. " 

"  Then,  if  one  should  now  find  use  for  any  of  those 
things,  even  as  one  finds  use  sometimes  for  shells,  he 
may  help  himself?  " 

"  Assuredly ;  if  a  book,  a  piece  of  machinery  or  tool, 
a  plant  or  a  piano ;  take  it  There  s  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  you  will  cumber  yourself  with  things  around 
you  which  you  cannot'  use ;  and,  if  you  use  the  thing, 
you  cause  it  to  serve  its  purpose. " 

"  I  understand.  Do  you  know  where  Vera  is,  Mr. 
White?" 

"  I  think  she  is  at  the  further  end  of  her  garden. " 

It  did  not  take  me  long  to  find  the  young  lady ;  a 
rose  among  the  lilies. 

"Welcome  back.  And  where  have  you  been, 
truant?    Did  you  get  lost,  or  were  you  stolen?  " 

I  laughed. 

"  Ah  1  stolen ;  and  Jean  Blair  is  the  cri  ninal. " 

"  How  do  you  know?  " 

"  Confess  then ;  it  is  so?  " 

"  Yes,  it  is  so,  at  least  to  the  extent  that  I  am  in- 
debted to  Jean  Blair,  principally,  for  an  extremely 
pleasant  excursion.    But  how  do  you  know?" 

"  Jean  telegraphed  to  me  last  evening  that  she  had 
persuaded  you  to  stay  over  night.    Didn't  you  like 
her?    And  you  had  a  good  time?  " 
104 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

"  Perfect ;  and  so  that  explains  your  sorcery.  Let 
me  see  you  palm ;— no,  the  other  one.  " 

Vera  laughed  as  I  scrutinized  her  outstretched  open 
hand. 

"  You  are  going  on  a  journey.  Yes,  we  might  as 
well  sit  down.  Toward  water.  It  will  be  about  a 
day  from  now.  You  have  three  companions.  One  is 
a  young  man  about  twenty.  I  see  also  a  dark  young 
woman  with  handsome  black  eyes;  also  a  fair  man 
tall,  lightly  built ;  and  of  an  age  that  oscillates  between 
th.rty-five  and  seventy.  This  journey  that  I  see  is  in 
the  nature  of  a  picnic  and  lasts  about  a  day.  It  seems 
also  like  a  search  or  prospecting  party,  but  there  is 
nothmg  to  indicate  the  results  achieved.  " 

The  expression  on  Vera's  face  was  so  comically  cu- 
nous,  that  I  had  to  laugh.  It  was  apparent  that  all 
this  ngamarole  of  mine  was  wasted  on  the  desert  air. 

Of  the  mysteries  and  occult  sciences  she  was  com- 
pletely ignorant.  My  crude  imitation  of  the  chicro- 
mancer  conveyed  no  suggestion  to  her  of  the  genuine 
counterfeited. 

Of  course,  she  had  heard  of  fortune-telling  and  palm- 
istry as  she  had  beard  of  the  oracle  of  Delphi,  but  the 
method  and  procedure  was  a  new  experience.  She 
recognized  the  fact  that  I  was  endeavoring  to  mimic 
the  soothsayer  or  forecast  the  coming  event,  and  to 
that  extent  my  act  amused  and  was  intelligible  The 
book  of  life,  as  written  on  the  hand,  I  had  once  studied 
with  some  diligence;  and,  to  find  topic  for  conversa- 
tion in  that  smooth  and  finely  traced  palm  outstretched 
105 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

in  mine,  struck  me  as  a  rather  clever  conceit  on  that 
bright  forenoon. 

"  And  now, "  she  said,  "  let  us  bar  the  mystic,  and 
explain  this  journey. " 

"What  say  you  to  a  picnic,  if  convenient,  'to- 
morrow?'" 

"  I  would  like  very  much  to  explore  parts  of  the 
city ;  possibly  among  the  debris  I  could  find  my  way. 
With  Jean  Blair  and  Charlie  Silverthom,  we  would 
make  a  party  of  four;  and  I  would  like  very  much  to 
have  Charlie  with  us.  ". 

"  It  would  be  splendid.  Have  you  arranged  with 
them  about  it?" 

"  No ;  I  could  not  till  I  saw  you-  Now  I  must  either 
go  down  to  see  them,  or  possibly  we  could  send  a  mes- 
sage- "  .,        . 

"  A  letter  could  be  sent  by  the  noon  -nail,  and  an 

answer  might  be  expected  in  the  evening.  " 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  the  Blair's  place  is  over  yon- 
der, in  which  event,  the  city  and  here  give  us  the 
other  points  of  an  equilateral  triangle.  We  and  they 
are  about  equally  distant  from  the  city.  It  might  be 
more  convenient  for  us  all  to  meet  there.  What  land- 
mark could  we  decide  upon  for  a  rendezvous?  " 

"No  trouble  about  that.  Their  road  and  ours  join 
just  outside  the  cit^. " 

"  Can  we  all  get  there  by  eleven  in  the  forenoon?" 

"Easily." 

"  Then    f  the  others  can  make  it  convenient,  it  is 

106 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

settled.  Will  you  write  Jean  to  come  and  bring 
Charlie  along  with  her?" 

"  Very  well. " 

By  the  evening  mail  came  the  reply  that  tl»y  would 
be  delighted  to  join  us  at  the  place  appoii](ed,  at  the 
hour  mentioned. 


107 


IIP 


Hinii  II 

t!  I 


I 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


On  the  morrow  we  set  out,  Vera  and  I,  to  meet,  at 
the  hour  appointed,  our  friends  at  the  rendezvous  just 
outside  old  Rochester. 

The  short  fragrant  grass,  all  of  a  single  dwarf  spe- 
cies that  made  the  highway  one  vast  lawn,  was  like  a 
velvet  carpet  undemeith  our  sandals.  The  road-bed, 
so  I  understood,  had  been  graded  and  then  seeded 
down  with  this  special  grass;  and  once  there  rooted 
nothing  else  would  invade  the  sod.  With  no  wheeled 
vehicles  to  rut  the  track  nor  heavy  rains  to  wash  or 
gully,  the  perfect  foot  path  was  practically  indestructi- 
ble, for  now  very  little  rain  fell ;  only  the  heavy  mid- 
night dew,  with  slight  nightly  showers  at  intervals 
of  about  a  fortnight,  when  the  moon  was  about  half 
full,  gave  needed  moisture  to  the  plant  growth. 

Naturally  our  conversation  drifted  to  the  dance  I 
had  lately  had  the  pleasure  of  attending.  I  recalled 
how  in  my  day  many  people,  good  people,  had  object  1 
strongly  to  such  gatherings-  Now,  among  even  bet- 
ter people,  not  only  was  there  no  objection  raised,  but 
the  pervading  happiness  of  heart  seemed  to  find  nat- 
ural and  fitting  outlet  in  what  was  once  termed  frivol- 
ity. I  myself  recognized  the  justice  of  some  of  the 
old  time  objections  to  certain  amusements ;  that  occa- 
108 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 
sion  was  offered  for  questionable  actions;  and  that 
nghtly  discountenanced.    After  all.  was  it  not  in  us. 
rather  than  in  the  amusement  that  the  evil  existed? 

I  led  up  to  the  matter  in  indirect  fashion, 
under  certain  circumstances  these  mixed  ntherinn 
were   associated    with    improprieties,    and    so    were 
Uo  you  remember  telling  me.  Vera,  that  the  differ- 
ence between  now  and  the  last  century  was  that  then 
•n  my  time  as  we  will  say,  to  do  evil,  (I  don't  mean 
the  great  sms  of  murder  and  the  like,  but  I  mean 
those  many  everyday  things  that  may  be  simply  dubi- 
ous) had  n,  ,t  a  certain  pleasure  and  spice  of  enjoy- 
ment, while  on  the  contrary  true  goodness  was  a  con- 
stant striving  and  a  toilsome  fight;  whereas  now  good 
has  ,n  Itself  an  essential  happiness,  while  misery  dogs 
the  steps  of  wickedness?    Why  this  reversal  of  the 
nature  of  humanity?" 

"I  think  my  father  would  answer  you  in  this  wise. 
CrZ%  r^"  '"  ^T  *'•""•  ^''^  *''«  Kingdom  of 
Roml?^'^  °'         ^'^"'''  °^  ^*"''''  °'  ^'"«'  °f 

"  Perished.  " 

"  The  mere  fact  of  some  monarch  reigning  now  over 
these  self-same  territories,  over  subjects  the  lineal  de- 
scendants of  those  old  citizens  of  Nineveh  or  Mace- 
donia does  not  of  necessity  work  a  continuation  of  the 
Empire  of  Cyrus  or  Alexander.  A  kingdom  may  be 
destroyed  without  the  deslruction  of  the  people.  The 
overturning  of  the  ruler  is  what  makes  the  difference. 
Were  the  whole  world  under  one  Prince;  and  he  be 
109 


rl : 


P.  i'l 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

over-thrown  and  a  new  dynwty  e»Ubli»hed,  but  over 
the  self-same  subjects,  we  might  yet  call  it  a  new 
world,  especially  if  the  new  power  brought  liberty  In- 
stead of  unhappiness  to  the  citzens.  Once  long  ago 
this  old  earth,  which  «  are  told  "endureth  forever, 
was  visited  by  a  Flood  which  destroyed  all  govern- 
ment, yes,  and  all  the  people,  except  those  eight  whom 
the  Ark  carried  over.  That  was  the  first  Age  or 
Aeon,  what  the  Apostle  Peter  called  "  the  Old  Worid 
or  "  the  world  that  then  was. " 

"  True,  in  the  destruction  of  the  first  world  at  the 
flood  all  but  eight  of  the  antediluvians  perished.  Then 
came  the  "second  heaven"  when  the  world  was 
heaved  up  or  lifted  up  out  of  the  waters  and  a  mw 
order  of  the  ages  began.  During  this  period  God  left 
man  largely  to  his  own  devices.  The  Prir.ce  of  this 
Age  was  Satan.  Christ  would  not  buy,  through  doing 
homage  to  its  Prince,  the  rulership  of  this  worid.  In- 
deed he  told  Pilate  his  kingdom  was  not  of  this  Age. 
But  having  redeemed  the  Worid  from  sin,  which  sin 
rendered  it  subservient  to  Satan  the  author  of  sin, 
the  usurping  Prince  of  this  Worid  was  in  due  vime 
cast  out,  and  a  people  as  joint  heirs  to  rule  with  Christ 
having  been  by  him  gathered  out  of  the  World,  the 
ovcrcomers  who  in  his  strength  ame  through  great 
tribulations  and  trials;  that  Woild  or  Age  the  king- 
ship of  which  Christ  disclaimed  came  to  an  end  in  the 
great  purging  fires  and  fervent  heat  of  the  great  Cata- 
clysm of  a  few  years  ago,  the  very  elements  of  author- 
ity and  society  being  melted  by  the  flames  of  anarchy 
110 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

•nd  trouble,  and  now  is  ushered  in  the  "World  to 
Come.  " 

"  This  is  the  World  in  which  we  now  are,  the  Sab- 
bt.t.i  after  the  long  week  of  toil  and  groaning;  the 
period  of  which  the  year  of  Jubilee  was  but  a  type; 
the  day  of  rest  and  gladness ;  in  this  the  morning  of 
which  all  nature  and  humanity  is  moving  forward  to 
the  final  development  of  perfection. 
"  Then  our  actions  are  attuned  to  our  environment. " 
"  How  do  you  mean?  " 

"  What  we  once  did  in  the  time  past  might  in  itself 
be  perfectly  right  and  devoid  of  evil,  provided  we  and 
our  companions  v  .-re  devoid  of  evil ;  whereas,  if  the 
contrary  condition  existed,  these  actions  might  be 
means  of  temptation  or  bear  the  appearance  of  evil. " 
"  Undoubtedly.  For  instance,  in  your  day,  among 
those  that  countenanced  and  indulged  in  dancing,  cer- 
tain restrictions  were  rightly  observed.  The  better 
the  people,  the  less  artificial  checks  necessary.  To  the 
absolutely  pure  (who  unfortunately  did  not  then  exist) 
all  things  would  be  pure. 

"  But  as  evil  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  was  every- 
where present,  every  action  was  circumscribed  by 
conditions.  For  instance,  nothing  in  itself  may  be 
purer  than  a  I-  is.  It  may  be  defined  as  a  manifesta- 
tion of  aflFection.  And  yet  this  method  of  salutation 
was  restricted  absolutely  to  those  whose  ties  of  rela- 
tionship or  prospective  interest  precluded  the  pre- 
sumption of  improper  sentiment.  In  the  general  es- 
timation a  kiss  otherwise  was  counted  at  best  merely 

in 


h  .  m : 


i  111' 


lili: 


:i!i 


I  I 


I 

ill  I 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

the  butterfly  condition  of  an  ugly  grub.  Now,  it  is  an 
expression  of  that  pure  brotherly  love,  of  that  aflfec- 
tion  enjoined  upon  us  as  members  of  one  great  family, 
children  of  one  Father. 

"  Then,  too,  purity  as  well  maybe  as  shame,  would 
compel  the  mn  or  woman  to  hide  from  each  other's 
eyes  that  most  beautiful  of  all  of  God's  creation,  the 
humen  body.  But  now  Shame  has  departed  with  her 
sister  Sin.  Now,  this  necessity  of  dress  no  longer 
governs,  and  though  as  a  tribute  to  the  weakness  of 
the  past,  and  for  the  sake  of  some  few  who  have  not 
yet  progressed  as  far  as  could  be  desired,  we  still  give 
our  forms  certain  indifferent  coverings;  it  may  be  that 
some  day  clothing  will  become  a  mere  matter  of 
adornment;  but  now  we  have  not  reached  that  stage. 
In  fact,  as  I  have  told  you,  we  are  all  of  us  develop- 

ing. " 

"  Then  you  think  the  future  of  this  Age  will  be  dif- 
ferent from  what  is  now  ?  " 

"  Decidedly.  We  are  only  yet  on  the  threshold  of 
the  present  and  advancing  era.  Each  year  witnesses 
an  advance  both  in  us  and  in  nature.  Even  we  can- 
not  anticipate   the   possibilities  twenty   years   from 

now." 

"  During  the  first  few  years  of  the  new  Order  of 
Things,  (I  was  only  an  infant  then)  an  invisible  yet 
more  or  less  recognizable  compulsion  took  hold  of 
surviving  humanity. 

"  This  power  has  since  g-adually  relaxed ;  until  now, 
among  most  of  us,  it  is  almost  unfelt,  giving  place  to 
112 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

an  inward  and  inherent  desire  on  our  own  part  to  pur- 
sue an  altruistic  course." 

"  Yes,  "  I  answered,  "  I  think  I  can  myself  testify  to 
this  same  sweet  compulsion,  the  mental  and  the  moral 
uplift  of  my  true  inward  spirit.  " 


113 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


%) 


!:|  ':    liHlll 


!:i  ?  illii 


We  had  now  reached  our  rendezvous  and  I  looked 
about  expecting  to  see  Jean  and  Charlie. 

Instead,  a  stranger  »PP-''«^*'^V' 'H^dWrnTo  con- 
that  our  friends  had  wired  him  and  wished  him  to  con 
vey  the  message,  that  Jean  would  be  detained  for  ab^ut 
three  hours  on  "Duties  for  the  Community     which 
she  had  not  anticipated;  and  would  we  call  her  up. 

This  we  did,  and  arranged  that  as  it  was  then  no 
later  than  eleven  in  the  forenoon,  she  and  Charlie 
should  meet  us  at  the  self-same  spot  at  two  in  the 
Sternoon,  and  that  in  the  meantime  Vera  and  I  would 
do  a  litle  preliminary  exploring  on  our  own  account 
Accordingly,  with  definite  intention,  I  ^t-red  °ur 
course  over  the  rubbish  and  obstructions  and  really 
Tngerous  tumuli  till  we  reached  what  I  thought  was 

ntdty  ::?':  heap  of  debris.  No  attempt  appar 
ently  had  been  made  to  clear  away  the  wreck.  The 
earthquake  followed  presumably  in  some  d-tncts  by 
fire,  had  utterly  overthrown  man's  work;  and  the  un- 
checked upgrowth  of  trees  and  vegetation  had  made 
the  ruins  almost  unrecognizable. 

From  our  point  of  vantage  on  a  precanous  heap 
of  rusTy  iron  and  concrete.  I  was  able  at  last  to  find 
114 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

such  certain  semblance  in  spots  to  the  street's  tracery 
of  the  Rochester  of  yore  as  to  feel  satisfied  as  to  my 
position.  The  narrow  harbor  of  Charlotte  was  choked 
to  a  succession  of  ponds;  and  I  thought  I  could  outline 
the  railway  up  from  the  Port  to  the  City.  To  the  south- 
ward was  possibly  State  Street  with  a  row  of  tall  trees 
bordering  level  grounds,  the  latter  dotted  here  and 
there  with  shapeless  mounds,  the  sole  remains,  of  what 
were  once  magnificent  mar    ons. 

We  ourselves  apparently  were  now  standing  beside 
Main  Street. 

"  Do  you  see  that  depression  over  yonder,  a  line 
running  in  that  direction?  " 

Vera  followed  the  direction  of  my  pointing  finger. 

"  Over  by  those  three  elms?  " 

"  Yes.  I  think  that  is  West  Avenue.  My  home 
was  there.  No.  480.  Follow  that  line  a  little,  and 
then  southward  from  those  same  elms ;  there,  over  to 
where  that  clear  patch  of  grass  is.  I  believe  that  is 
where  the  fire  was— my  last  act  in  the  grand  finale 
of  "the  World  that  Was.  " 

For  perhaps  an  hour  we  followed  our  lesson  in  an- 
cient geography;  I,  for  a  wonder,  the  teacher,  not  the 
pupil. 

To  Vera  the  recital  seemed  full  of  interest.  It  was 
as  if  some  palet  :\.  :  cave  dweller  re-incarnated,  had 
sat  down  upon  sonie  prehistoric  tumulus  and  told  of 
how  his  stone  axe  brethren  had  fought  the  mammoth 
pelegasauros  or  hunted  the  cave  bear  in  the  dense 
fern-growth  forests. 

115 


AFTER   THE  CATACLYSM 
Finally  we  determined  to  explore  the  ruin  on  which 
we   were   standing.    It   was   decidedly   a   dangerous 
thing  to  do ;  as,  covered  by  the  thinnest  carpet  of  green 
growth,  cavernous  depths  might  yawn  below. 

Tracing  out  protruding  girders  and  joists  of  .ron  we 
finally  concluded  that  the  debris  about  us  was  that 
of  a  moderately  lofty  but  yet  narrow  "skyscraper. 
It  had  fallen  side  ways,  breaking  in  two  in  Us  descent; 
and  so  rested  as  a  gothic  arch  over  the  top  of  an  older 
fashioned  brick  building  under  it.  The  result  was  to 
form  an  excessively  strong  truss  roof  braced  around 
the  more  modest  shop  once  its  neighbor,  preservmg 
it  to  a  certain  extent  against  the  convulsive  forces  of 
the  earthquake. 

Through  an  upper  window  we  let  ourselves  down 
into  the  third  floor.  The  fourth  and  other  higher 
stories  were  crushed  out  of  shape;  but  from  the  third 
flight  down,  the  place  was  in  fair  condition  except  for 
fallen  plaster  and  a  wreck  of  over-thrown  merchandise. 
In  the  dim  light,  one  had  the  feeling  a  burglar  or 
other  interloper  might  entertain  when  he  stealthily 
meanders  through  some  silent  mansion.  At  any  mo- 
ment, it  seemed,  the  owner's  challenge  should  rudely 
check  our  marauding  fingers.  ^ 

But  it  was  "  no  man's  land  "  in  which  we  wandered. 
Co-tiy  pianos,  instruments  of  wood  and  brass  (for  it 
seemed  to  be  as  I  had  planned  and  expected,  a  whole- 
sale music  store  we  were  exploring)  whole  orchestras 
in  fact,  were  ours  for  the  taking;  and  what  we  left 
was  no  one's- 

116 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

The  law  of  abandonment  worked  a  complete  relin- 
quishment; the  law  of  personal  and  utilizing  appro- 
priation gave  title. 

I  left  Vera  on  the  second  floor  examining  with  some 
interest  the  intricate  mechanism  of  a  smashed  grand 
piano;  while  after  a  hurried  search  of  what  that  flat 
contained  1  hurried  down  to  the  main  shop. 
There  was  method  in  my  madness. 
Rooting  through  the  broken  glass  and  dust  and  cob- 
webs in  a  shattered  showcase,  ray  search  was  at  last 
rewarded. 

With  a  cry  of  joy  I  drew  from  out  the  accumulated 
rubbish,  a  flute,  a  perfect  silver  flute,  full  keyed  on  the 
most  up  to  date  Albert  System  as  I  recalled  it. 

Imagine  my  supreme  delight.     In  a  delirium  of  joy 
(for  was  not  now  the  one  thing  I  longed  for  mine)  I 
shook  oflF  the  clinging  dust,  and  with  trembling  fin- 
gers raised  the  precious  instrument  to  my  lips.    Just 
as  a  thrilling  A  vibrated  in  the  air  there  came  a  crash. 
The  precarious  ceiling  almost  over  my  head  was 
breaking;  and,  through   the  parting  woodwork  feet 
foremost  shot  the  lithe  body  of  my  companion.    As 
she  fell,  the  sash-like  end  of  her  drapery  caught  in  the 
splintered  joist  and  held;  and,  unwinding,  spun  her 
white  glistening  body  around  like  a  top,  her  left  arm 
helc'  aloft  grasping  in  her  hand  the  dependent  end  of 
her  raiment,  and  just  one  extended  tip-toe  resting  on  a 
massive  table  below. 
It  was,  I  say  it  in  all  modesty,  a  beautiful  picture 
Unconsciously,  or  rather  unwittingly,  she  had  as- 
117 


li 


•ill     ■■H- 
4.    ■":i\ 


m 


AFTER   THE   CATACLYSM 

S  to  he  calamity  and  UiU  the  baser  thought.  Or 
yet  again,  there  is  a  height  of  heart  affecUon.  an  ex 
pulsive  love  that  leaves  no  room  for  ev.l 

I  admit  that  I  was  startled  when  she  fell.  She  was 
not  huTt;  that  I  realized  almost  in  the  same  ms  ant 
sti  1  as  sLe  stood  there  naked  yet  so  serene.  I  reahzed 
hat  I  should  be  shocked ;  yes  scandalized,  most  blush- 
Sy  embarrassed.  Yet,  candidly  I  was  not.  Vy  un- 
quaMed  admiration  was  provoking  y  akm  to  amuse 
1      T  ronfess  it     And  then  again  recurred  to  me 

*i,..«.    "vae  are  but  little  children. 

''na7gh".  in  part  encouraged  by  my  friend's  calm 

countenance  that  showed  in  itsel   a  trace  o   h"mo. 

What  would,  in  the  days  of  old.  have  been  a  httle 
tragedy,  a  something  within  our  memory  to  cover  wnth 
a  veil    a  something  that  again  from  t.me  to  time 
Uld'send  the  unbidden  color  to  -  cheek,  was  th.s 
and  now,  strange,  as   grotesquely   small   as  .f 
showed  a  dangling  shoe  lace. 

In  the  olden  time,  thus  in  black  and  white  to  relate 
118 


Ifi  11 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

such  an  embarrassing  incident,  even  to  hoard  up  the 
memory  of  it  among  one's  secret  mental  records, 
woul '.  be  treason  to  true  friendship.  The  only  possi- 
bility would  be  absolutely  to  forget  what  could  not  be; 
forgotten ;  to  treat  as  a  trifle  of  nothingness  what  alas 
was  a  huge  disaster.  And  yet,  now,  here  we  stood, 
both  of  us  laughing,  not  as  two  hardened  criminals, 
but  as  it  were  two  little  children  upon  whom  the 
ignorance  of  evil  had  not  even  impressed  the  first 
iesson  of  guilty  silence. 

It  would  appear  that  when  the  first  ripples  of  my 
new  found  flute  had  startled  Vera,  she  had  stepped 
quickly  backward,  perhaps  to  hear  the  more  distinctly ; 
and,  not  noticing,  or  perhaps  not  realizing  the  fraility 
of  the  laths  under  the  broken  floor,  the  woodwork  had 
given  way  beneath  her,  and  she  had  crashed  through, 
and  got  a  fall  of  maybe  fifteen  feet.  That  she  was  not 
hurt  was  a  wonder.  Possibly  the  fact  of  her  drapery 
catching  as  it  did  had  saved  her  from  a  broken  limb 
or  worse.  As  I  was  congratulating  her  on  her  fortu- 
nate escape,  I  chanced  to  notice,  about  at  her  shoulder 
blade,  a  stain  which  seemed  alarmingly  like  blood. 

"  You  have  hurt  yourself  after  all.  There  surely 
is  blood  on  your  scarf  (it  wasn't  much  more)  at  your 
shoulder.  " 

"  O !  that  is  nothing,  it  is  only  a  trifle." 

On  my  insisting,  she  allowed  me  to  turn  back  the 

edge  of  her  mantle  to  examine  the  scratch,  and  to  my 

horror,  there  disclosed  was  a  clear  cut  or  tear  fully 

three  inches  long  and  almost  to  the  bone.    It  was 

119 


Hi' 


)    I 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

gaping  open  and  dripping  a  few  drops  of  blood,  but 
otherwise  the  gushed  sides  were  almost  dry. 

To  my  persuasion  that  we  hurry  home  or  to  some 
surgeon  to  get  the  wound  properly  dressed,  she  only 
laughed  and  persisted  that  it  was  a  mere  trifle.  There 
was  nothing  I  could  do.  A  roll  of  passe-partout 
which  I  found  in  a  drawer  in  the  stenographer's  table, 
I  first  thought  could  be  utilized  as  sticking  plaster; 
but  on  examination  it  turned  out  that  the  sticker  on  it 
was  valueless. 

"  Never  mind,  it  does  not  pain  me  at  all.  What  s 
that  you  have  there?  Was  it  on  that  you  were  play- 
ing?" 

"  Do  you  remember  my  flute  of  which  I  have  often 

told  you?    This  is  one  like  it  only  better. " 

"Then  play  it.    Play  for  me-  " 

Nothing  loath,  I  raised  the  somewhat  tarnished  and 
yet  perfect  instrument  to  my  lips.  A  little  fragment 
of  "Martha;"  then  the  thrilling  vivacity  of  the 
"  Mocking  Bird ;"  one  bit  of  melody  after  another  fol- 
lowed. I  was  back  again  in  my  old  "  den  "  on  West 
Avenue  with  the  last  glow  of  sunset  fading  into  night. 
Songs  of  the  twilight  came  again  to  me,  and  then  as 
the  last  dying  notes  of  "  Home,  Sweet  Home "  still 
lingered,  I  looked  up  at  my  companion. 

Her  eyes  were  moist  and  she  caught  her  breath  in 
the  stillness. 

"  It  was  beautiful.  That  last  melody,  what  is  it? 
There  is  something  pathetic  in  its  sadness.    Tell  me 

about  it. " 

120 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
Again  on  solid  ground,  returning  to  our  rendezvous, 

I  told  her  the  story  of  the  man  without  a  home  who 

sang  its  sweet  praises. 
"  It  is  only  the  heart  that  moves  the  heart, "  was  all 

her  comment. 


I 


121 


m 


CHAPTER  XV. 


iM 


We  had  so  timed  ourselves  that  on  reaching  our 

place  of  meeting,  Jean  and  Charlie  had  just  arrived. 

First  'Tom  the  trees  near  by  we  gathered  sufficient 

food  for  our  mid-day  lunch;  and  then,  lolling  on  the 

grass,  I  began  to  unfold  my  plans. 

It  was,  after  all,  nothing  very  excitingly  important ; 
but  the  idea  had  grown  on  me  as  an  inspiration 
from  the  dance. 

I  wanted  to  organize  a  full  brass  and  reed  orchestra, 
something  on  the  basis  of  the  big  institutions  of  my 
own  day. 

Talent,  time,  and  taste  were  available,  the  only  thing 
I  had  thought  impossible  was  the  obtaining  of  in- 
struments and  music  But  this  latter  problem  the 
morning's  prospecting  had  served ;  and  so  I  explained 
it  all  in  full  to  my  companions. 
As  I  hoped,  they  were  enthusiastic. 
The  decision  was  to  return  to  our  music  store  at 
once  and  see  if  we  could  get  a  complete  or  at  least 
sufficient  outfit.  We  soon  retraced  our  steps,  and 
carefully  crept  into  the  building  Vera  and  I  had  ex- 
plored only  an  hour  before. 

It  had  once  in  my  childhood  been  a  matter  of  de- 
light and  surprise  to  me  that  the  old  castaway  Crusoe, 
122 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

the  Swiu  family  Robinson,  and  the  like,  when  in  dire 
extremity  always  found  the  thing  so  necessary  in  a 
chest  or  wreck  opportunely  cast  up  by  the  sea  after 
some  very  accommodating  tempest. 

Such  also  was  our  own  good  fortune. 

In  the  Shipping  Room,  for  so  it  seemed  to  be,  were 
about  a  dozen  cases,  all  addressed  to  a  Rio  Janeiro 
Band,  and  the  freight  boss'  invoice  on  top  of  one  of 
the  boxes. 

The  outfit  included  some  sixty-four  pieces.  With 
the  exception  of  one  instrument,  the  names  were  all 
familiar  to  me.  It  was  a  "clarion."  The  name  was 
in  a  fashion  old;  and  yet  I  adjudged  it  was  really  a 
new  instrument. 

My  curiosity  impelled  me  to  open  the  box  the  in- 
voice indicated.  By  a  comparison  of  the  instruments 
on  the  list  I  could  see  that  this  novelty  must  likely 
take  a  leading  part,  as  otherwise  the  others  named 
did  not  show  sufficient  solo.  Further,  it  must  take  a 
cornet  score. 

This  on  investigation  I  found  correct  reasoning. 

The  instrument  had  the  valves  and  bell  of  a  cornet, 
but  the  brass  of  the  bell  had  a  covering  of  what  re- 
sembled vulcanized  rubber  nearly  half  an  inch  thick, 
right  back  to  the  valve;  and  the  mouth  piece  had  a 
small  reed  peculiarly  attached.  This  reed  was  much 
smaller  than  that  of  a  clarionet. 

As  I  was  well  acquainted  with  both  the  cornet  and 
clarionet,  I  found  very  little  trouble  in  getting  a  fair 
sound  out  of  the  instrument.  My  notes  were  crude 
123 


■n 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

indeed,  but  accidently  I  got  a  few  tones  fairly  correct, 
somewhat  resembling  a  comet,  but  with  more  of  the 
mellowness  of  the  low  notes  of  a  clarionet  or  saxa- 
phone. 

There  were  shelves  upon  shelves  of  what  seemed 
like  excellent  band  music,  but  we  decided  to  take 
chances  in  the  meantime  on  the  assortment  of  music 
included  in  this  intended  Brazilian  consignment 

Now  that  the  instrument  question  was  solved,  it  was 
determined  to  organize  our  orchestra,  and  then  come 
over  in  mass  to  our  grand  "  Crusoe's  chest "  and 
outfit. 

It  took  but  a  few  days  to  gather  together  our  or- 
chestra. 

A  nucleus  already  existed  in  the  little  band  of  musi- 
cians whom  I  had  met  at  the  dance.  With  sufficient 
added  young  men  and  women  to  make  the  full  com- 
plement, we  organized,  distributed  parts,  and  set  out 
to  collect  the  instruments. 

The  humdrum  detail  of  practice  and  instruction  is 
of  no  interest.  Suffice  to  say  the  drudgery  and  repe- 
tition of  scale  and  exercise  which  every  musician  must 
undergo  to  attain  skill,  technique  and  general  effi- 
ciency were  ours.  No  royal  road  to  learning  had  yet 
been  discovered.  None  the  less,  all  the  advantage  that 
high  intelligence,  willingness,  and  marvellous  memory 
give  was  ours.  One  thing  though  was  noticeable,  and 
this  was  that  repetition  of  a  theme  did  not  nauseate; 
nor  did  music  admittedly  agreeable  when  new  be- 
came stale  and  monotonous. 
124 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

This  fact  so  struck  me,  that  one  day  1  remarked  it 
to  Mr.  White.  I  discovered  it  in  the  others,  I  realized 
it  in  myself. 

Once  when  some  operatic  air  or  fetching  song 
caught  the  popular  ear,  it  was  for  a  week  or  two  on 
jveryone's  lips,  sung  or  whistled;  the  newsboys  had  it, 
then  the  hurdy-gurdies;  and  at  last  every  one  wanted 
to  consign  it  to  the  place  of  burning;  until  finally  to 
hum  a  bar  of  it  was  to  invite  sudden  death  or  grievous 
bodily  harm. 

"  Yes, "  said  Mr.  White,  "  I  agree  with  you  as  to 
the  past  and  also  with  your  statement  of  present  con- 
dition. One  main  difference  between  music  and  noise 
is  that  the  former,  unlike  the  latter,  is  an  orderly  se- 
quence of  sound  vibrations  having  a  certain  arithmet- 
ical co-relation.  I  have  a  supposition  that  if  we  could 
in  ?o-ne  waj  efficiently  plot  out  these  relations,  joining 
them  with  lines,  the  result  would  be  figures  and  curves 
which  as  tracery,  would  also  be  pleasing  to  the  eye. 
"  In  music,  the  movement  and  undulations  of  the 
melody,  and  also  the  mental  anticipation  of  the  coming 
and  pleasingly  expected  chord  to  follow  are  two  phases 
of  enjoyment. 

"  But  to  pulsate  in  certain  nerve  cells  a  definite  suc- 
cession of  sound  curves,  and  then  again  and  again  to 
indent  the  same  nerve  with  identical  traceries,  finally 
caused  such  a  laceration  as  to  become  absolutely  pain- 
ful ;  unless  (and  here  is  where  our  present  superiority 
lies),  that  nerve  has  such  instantly  recuperative 
125 


•I' 


ill 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
powers  as  to  oflEer  to  each  successive  repetition  what 
iTpractically  a  new  or  unscarified  nerve  surface. 

"You  will  remember  when  Vera  got  home  that  even- 
ing from  your  reconnaissance  of  Rochester,  and  threw 
off  a  portion  of  her  drapery,  your  surprise  in  finding 
that  the  tear  in  her  shoulder  was  absolutely  healed, 
merely  a  white  scar  left,  and  that  in  the  mormng 
even  the  scar  was  gone. 

"  Similar  expedition  in  reconstructing  nerve  tissue 
eives  opportunity  for  repetition  of  mental  impression 
on  unwearied,  because  on  renovated  sensatory  con- 
volutions; and  so  what  is  to-day  pleasing  or  engaging 
to  the  eye,  the  ear;  the  taste,  continues  to  be  so  irre- 
spective of  recurrence. 

"  In  other  words-physical  and  mental  perfection 
continuously  so,  means  continuously  perfect  enjoy- 
ment of  the  once  enjoyable;  and  contra,  what  is  not 
primarily  and  positively  disagreeable  never  becomes 
so  by  monotonous  repetition. 

Given  as  we  had  to  hand,  ability  equivalent  to  the 
genius  of  a  born  musician,  in  every  one  of  our  bands- 
men, it  is  not  surprising  that  in  the  course  of  a  short 
time  our  big  orchestra  of  sixty-four  pieces  was  able 
to  render  high  class  music  with  magnificent  eflfect. 

Our  first  public  performance  had  apparently  been 
well  advertised.  At  least  a  couple  of  thousand  people 
gathered  on  a  beautiful  afternoon  of  one  of  those  glo- 
rious days  of  perpetual  June  in  a  little  grass  carpeted 
hollow  enclosed  by  a  circle  of  forest;  a  perfect  amphi- 
theatre. 

126 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

Until  nearly  sunset  we  played  from  our  well  chosen 
repertoire  (thanks  to  some  able  musician  of  ;  i..st  days 
who  had  made  selections)  receiving  enthusiastic  cl 
cores  in  some  cases  of  especially  pleasir  -^  ..'ndition',. 
It  was  interesting  to  me  to  note  the  ta=tt.  tho  dis- 
crimination, the  judgment  of  our  audience. 

The  music  that  appealed  to  them  was  either  an  ex- 
ceedingly simple  theme  of  a  sad  or  pathetic  nature, 
some  sweet  love  song  or  plantation  melody;  or  else 
heavy  involved  harmony. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  middle  ground. 

Wagner's  "Pilgrims'  Chorus"  and  his  wedding 
march  in  Lohengrin  each  got  several  repeats  "  by  re- 
quest. " 

At  last  the  audience  dispersed ;  the  unanimous  ver- 
dict pronouncing  the  Rochester  Philharmonic  a  grand 
success. 

The  bandsmen,  leaving  their  instruments  stacked 
in  a  circle,  disappeared  among  the  assemblage  to  greet 
friends  and  acquaintances. 

I  was  left  to  walk  home  with  Mr.  White  who  spoke 
very  enthusiastically  as  well  as  flatteringly  of  our 
music. 

I  felt  and  acknowledged  that  there  were  among  the 
rank  and  file  many  who  were  greatly  my  superiors  in 
musical  genius  and  real  ability.  My  sole  pre-eminence 
was  practical  experience.  When  they  attained  to  that, 
I  must  take  a  very  lowly  place  in  the  chorus ;  unless! 
as  I  inwardly  hoped,  I  should  myself  progress  and  con- 
tinue to  develop.  Not  that  I  coveted  the  leadership; 
127 


J     i 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

for  we  had  almost  come  to  a  state  when  we  might  dis- 
pense with  the  leader;  mutual  intention  and  mter- 
mental  cognition  being  sufficient  to  preserve  unity  of 

'"'iT  was  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  I  lay 
down  to  sleep.    I  was  pleased  with  the  work  accom- 

''' The'^kindly  expressed  congratulations  I  had  received 
from  so  many  friends  as  well  as  strangers  had  warmed 
my  heart  with  happiness.    Neither  vanity  nor  pride 
found  place,  but  rather  a  great  content  that  I  could 
be  of  even  small  service  in  giving  others  pleasure 
and  that  their  words  had  helped  me  realize  their  ap- 
preciation of  my  effort.  ^     ,     j    r  „i,.„ 
As  I  rested  myself  there  on  the  border  land  of  sleep, 
music,  the  music  of  the  afternoon  came  back  to  me  as 
if  from  dreamland.    But  yet  not  so.  for  nearer  and 
nearer  it  came;  and  wide  awake  I  listened. 
It  seemed  to  be  away  up  overhead. 
\t  last  in  the  moonlight  I  made  out  a  large  speck 
in'the  sky  slowly  descending.    There,  at  an  altitude  of 
about  five  hundred  feet  was  a  huge  aerodrome  slow  y 
circling  around  me  as  a  centre,  and  in  't,  '^PP-'ntly 
to  serenade  their  beyond  his  ment  appreciated  band- 
master were  the  now  famous  Rochester  Orchestra. 

A  w^y"  playing  with  them,  in  the  centre  of  the  m- 
stn;ments,  I  haJ  actually  never  before  really  heard 

'^Zi  this  was  their  music.    Suspended  there  in  the 
128 


fV^f^ 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

heavens  above  me;  floating  out  on  the  still  night  air 
it  seemed  celestial. 

Then  as  they  slowly  sailed  away,  the  strains  of  Sa- 
bastian  Davids'  "  Night  in  the  Tropics  "  from  "Chris- 
tophe  Columbe  "  orchestrated  by  Ripley  with  its  lux- 
uriously golden  melody  dying  away  in  the  distance,  I 
fell  asleep,  and  the  dream-palms  and  lotus  of  the  en- 
chanted Land  of  Forgetfulness  embowered  me. 


129 


11' 


W''  '^' 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

It  was  well  planned  and  beautifully  executed,  the 
appreciated  serenade  of  last  evening  that  my  fellow 
bandsmen  had  so  kindly  given  me. 

The  big  aerodrome  that  had  brought  some  of  our 
audience  to  the  Musical  Festival  (but  which  I  had  not 
been  permitted  to  see)  aiver  returning  .ts  Passeng^f; 
had  been  requisitioned  by  the  Orchestra  w>th  mtent 
to  give  me  this  agreeable  surprise.  Shortly  afterwards 
I  had  the  opportunity  to  inspect  the  huge  machme. 

In  appearance,  it  was  primarily  three  huge  gas  bags 
shaped  like  fish;  sharp  at  both  ends;  not  round,  but 
oval  shaped  in  cross  section ;  and  with  the  fish  back  a 
straight  horizontal  line,  but  the  belly  below  sagged  to 
extend  like  a  fin  keel. 

In  profile  it  was  thus  roughly  an  obtuse  angled 
isosceles  triangle  with  inverted  apex. 

This  gas  holder  was  not  a  yielding  bag  enclosed  m 
a  net;  but  was  a  tightly  stretched  skin  covenng  an  in- 
terior multiple  trussed  framing.  Not  only  so  but  this 
trussed  interior  was  a  honey  comb  of  aeroplane  cells 
so  constructed  that  in  case  of  accident  to  the  gas  bal- 
loons whereby  their  sustaining  power  was  gone,  a 
quick  pull  of  reefing  lines  would  strip  off  the  skm  in 
130 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

sections  and  bind  it  in  horizontal  layers  to  the  main 
structure ;  by  the  aid  of  which  and  the  material  assis- 
tance of  the  aeroplanes  practically  composing  horizon- 
tal surfaces  filling  the  interior  trusses,  the  huge  aero- 
drome would  soar  easily  to  the  ground. 

As  already  stated ;  there  were  three  balloons  or  gas 
holders  to  each  machine.  Two  of  these  were  a  little 
above  the  main  cabin  deck  about  eighty  feet  apart ;  and 
one  was  in  the  centre  about  thirty  feet  below  the 
cross  line  of  the  upper  pair. 

These  dromes,  driven  by  powerful  propellers,  made 
an  average  speed  of  about  forty  miles  per  hour.  A 
simple  machine  generating  the  lifting  gas,  a  com- 
pound much  more  efficient  than  hydrogen,  was  placed 
in  ihe  interior  of  each  balloon  and  operated  by  a  slow 
combustion  of  certain  conflicting  chemicals. 

Unfortunately  my  scientific  education  was  so  limited 
as  to  prevent  me  from  understanding  the  detailed  ex- 
planation as  to  the  ingredients ;  sufficient  to  me  from 
the  practical  standpoint  that  they  were  obtained  with 
little  trouble  and  in  ample  quantities. 

The  whole  framework  of  these  dromes  was  so  sub- 
stantially built,  cross-stayed  and  trussed  as  to  be  rea- 
sonably rigid. 

In  ascending,  it  rose  perpendicularly  as  a  balloon, 
though  the  machine  at  rest  on  the  earth  had  a  fraction 
below  the  specific  gravity  of  atmosphere.  The  actual 
uplift  was  accomplished  by  several  heliocoptic  propel- 
lers, properly  distributed,  whirling  in  a  horizontal 
plane,  and  needing  very  little  force  to  overcome  the 
131 


m 


I 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
trifling  preponderance  of  weight  remaining  after  ailow- 
init  for  the  powerful  effort  of  the  gas  containers. 

Some  of  these  airships  had  several  aeroplane  sur- 
faces which,  as  soon  as  a  fair  speed  was  attamed  came 
SS  ;.Uy  and  allowed  the  horizonUl  heliocopter  to  be 

'Tlughiing.  the  forward  motion  was  as  near  as 
possible  checked,  and  the  machine  settled  qu.etiy 
down  to  the  ground,  head  to  the  wmd  and  rested  on 
twelve  spirally  f;<:xible  legs  terminating  with  smaU 
broad  tired  wheels. 


Ill 


till 


illSSIti 


132 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


It  was  a  beautiful  summer  afternoon ;  but  then  the 
afternoons  were  all  beautiful,  and  it  was  always  sum- 
mer. I  had  been  idly  lying  on  my  elbow  examining 
one  by  one  and  enjoying  the  many  tints  and  colors  of 
a  bed  of  pansies  in  a  far  away  comer  of  Vera's  garden. 
Perhaps  it  was  because  I  was  softly  whistling  a  scrap 
of  old  time  opera,  or  perhaps  because  the  velvet-like 
carpet  of  grass  deadened  her  footfall,  or  both,  for  I 
was  not  aware  of  the  owner's  approach  until  she  bent 
over  me  and  kissed  me.  Then,  seating  herself  oppo- 
site me  on  the  turf,  she  asked  me  in  what  I  was  so  in- 
terested. 

"  No ;  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  here  with  everything 
in  nature  so  favorable,  they  might  be  grown  much 
larger." 

"  The  pansies  are  perfect  in  color  and  with  all  the 
fragrance  of  the  violets.  Still,  I  have  seen  in  the  gar- 
dens long  ago,  right  here  in  Rochester,  pansies  as  large 
and  as  pretty. " 

"  Did  you  ever  see  any  that  were  larger' "  she 
asked- 

"  That  would  appear  to  be  reasonable ;  but  why  was 
it  that  the  old  Rochester  florists  reached  and  could 
not  pass  a  certain  limit?    I  will  tell  you." 
133 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 


"  We  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  each  thing 
in  nature  has  a  certain  *ta"d»^^  of  perfection  m  sue 
as  well  as  in  other  respects.    W.th  man,  there  is  a 
fixed  dimension  to  perfect  excellence,  i"  .*»""«.  '" 
„i„d.  and  in  power.    There  have  been  .n  all  ages 
'  freaks'  that  in  one  dimension  perhaps  went  beyond 
the  sundard,  but  they  were  the  result  not  of  surpas- 
sing ability  but  of  an  abnormal  growth.    In  some 
other  relation  they  sho^yed  a  corresponding  weakness 
In  the  lower  kingdom  and  with  animals  that  man  had 
bred  or  trained,  when  the  summit  hne  was  reached 
there  came  a  decline.    So  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no 
further,  was  the  law. 

"  Yes  "  I  interrupted.    "I    have  seen  that.    1  re 
member  particularly,  when  we  speak  of  Pl^"*^;  °J  J^* 
beautiful  Lillium  Auratum,  the  queen  of  the  l.Ues. 
Florists  produced  it  in  a  magnificent  wax-like  expan- 
sion of  flower  with  golden  yellow  stamens     But  as 
they  pushed  it  to  still  grander  expansion,  such  a  weak- 
ness of  root  and  plant  was  developed  that  it  finally 
succumbed  to  disease,  and  any  hopes  of  further  ad- 
vance had  to  be  abandoned.    I  remember  the  same 
thing  in  regard  to  a  famous  herd  of  Jersey  cattle.    The 
stock  was  bred,  and  fed,  and  pampered  until  t^^ir  at- 
tainments were  almost  beyond  belief,  they  sdd  for  a 
fabulous  price;  and  then.-they  all  succumbed  to  tu- 
berculosis.   That  was  the  end  of  the  Jersey.    So  too 
in  our  last  century  also  with  man.    They  crowded 
into  the  cities.    Some  accomplished  wonderful  mental 
work;   their   achievements   rank   with   anything  the 
134 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

world  ever  accomplished ;  but  their  brains  burned  out 
their  bodies,  and  in  a  generation  or  two  the  family  was 
extinct.  " 

"  On  the  other  hand  though,"  said  Vera,  "you  do 
not  allow  for  the  imperfection  then  of  humanity- 
What  you  call  surpassing  excellence  was  only  perfect 
development;  and  the  other  attributes  being  much 
below  perfection  failed  to  give  the  support  that  an  all 
round  perfection  would  contribute.  Now,  we  are  tend- 
ing toward  that  perfection  under  which  every  faculty 
will  reach  the  limit  of  the  standard  coupled  with  a  lack 
of  weariness,  as  you  know,  that  tends  to  a  continuous 
enjoyment  of  that  faculty  to  its  ultimate.  " 

"  Then  when  you  say  tending  toward,  you  consider 
you  have  not  yet  reached  that  limit,  irrespective,  I 
mean  of  such  constant  accretion  of  knowledge  as 
comes  from  experience  ?  " 

"  Oh,  by  no  means.  Why,  we  are  merely  beginning. 
We  are  in  a  transition  stage  as  yet.  In  the  first  place, 
we  are  scattered  and  few.  How  many  people  think 
you  are  there  now  living  on  this  earth?  Not  more 
than  forty  million ;  and  at  least  half  of  those  are  and 
were  English  speaking.  This  globe  as  now  consti- 
tuted, and  with  its  prodigality  of  food-growth,  could 
sustain  and  lavish  comfort  on  thousands  of  millions; 
in  fact  more  than  all  that  ever  breathed  since  Crea- 
tion. No,  we  are  yet  in  a  state  of  transition  of  de- 
velopment, toward  perfection  under  invisible  inward 
laws  that  practically  compel  advancement.  My  father 
told  me  yesterday  that  at  the  Conference  of  the  Sen- 
135 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 
ators,  of  which  Senate  he  i»  a  member,  it  wa«  felt  Uiat 
8<jme  new  crisis  is  near  at  hand;  but  that,  instead  of 
being  sudden  and  all  concluding  as  has  all  a|ong  been 
supposed,  it  was  now  decided  that  the  coming  fulfi  - 
ment  would  be  gradual  and  in  stages.  This  was  all 
that  he  volunteered  as  I  was  passing  through  the 
room;  and,  seeing  that  he  was  engaged  in  earnest  de- 
bate with  three  friends  who  had  come  quite  a  distance 
to  discuss  the  question,  I  did  not  think  it  becoming 
for  me  to  interrupt  them.  However,  he  wi't  be  glad  to 
explain  it  all  to  us  in  detail  this  evenirg.  ^nd  now, 
to  go  back  to  the  pansies,  what  else  about  them? 
"Shall  I  tell  you?" 

"Why  not."  .^,    ^ 

"  I  can  easily  see  why  not.    Is  it  impossible  to  un- 
burden ourselves  of  things  and  desires  impossible  of 
fulfilment,  or  is  it  hope  that  hopes  against  hope  that  in 
some  way  the  impossible  can  be  accomplished?    It  l 
am  unhappy,  why  should  I  not  be  silent?    And  then, 
why  might  I  not  speak  out  and  be  done  of  it?    it  is 
this.    In  spite  of  the  knowledge  of  how  welcome  I  am 
here,  you  know  I  am  yet  after  all  in  one  sense  only  a 
stranger;  except  to  the  extent,  as  you  kindly  msist, 
that  you  have  adopted  me.    I  am  like  a  wandering 
star  away  from  its  natural  orbit.    I  am  lonesome.    No, 
I  don't  want  you  to  think  for  a  moment  that  you  are 
not  kind  to  me;  you,  all  I  meet  are  the  perfection  of 
kindness  to  me.    I  know  what  I  would  like,  and  yet 
somehow  I  feel  convinced  it  cannot  be.  " 
"  But  possibly  it  can.    Tell  me. " 
136 


AFTER  THE  CATACLYSM 

"  Yes,  I  will  tell  you,  only  to  be  the  more  convinced 
that  I  am  not  mistaken.  I  will  speak  as  iil  were  back 
again  among  my  comrades  of  the  olden  days.  If  then, 
and  with  this  environment  and  with  these  conditions, 
I  would  wish  a  little  garden  plot  like  this  for  my  very 
own ;  and  in  it  I  would  build  my  little  cottage  home, 
and  ask  you  Vera  to  come  and  share  it  as  my  wife. 
Stop,  for  I  know  it  can  not  be,  the  last  at  least ;  and, 
in  a  way,  I  feel  it  should  not  be,  for  Vera  dear,  you 
seem  as  if  you  were  my  sister,  and  even  thus  it  can 
not  be.  And  yet  more,  so  much  this  sisterly  relation 
seems  now  unchangeably  established,  I  cannot  even 
think  ourselves  in  any  other  condition. " 

"  True  my  dear  brother,  and  my  own  heart  acknow- 
ledges you  my  brother.  As  to  your  garden,  which  I 
know  has  but  small  part  in  what  you  say,  take  this,  let 
half  of  mine  be  yours,  which  part  your  choice;  and, 
if  we  wish  to  add,  beyond  is  ours  for  the  taking.  And 
even  so  you  will  not  go  away ;  you  are  too  dear  to  me 
that  you  should  leave  me;  and  if  I  judge  you  right, 
your  heart  tells  you  to  stay;"  and,  as  with  misty  eye 
and  yet  bravely — smiling,  she  bent  over  me  and  kissed 
my  cheek,  she  added — 

"BUT  THEY  WHICH  SHALL  BE  AC- 
COUNTED WORTHY  TO  OBTAIN  THAT 
WORLD  •  •  ♦  •  NEITHER  MARRY,  NOR 
ARE  GIVEN  IN  MARRIAGE  ♦  *  *  *  BUT 
ARE  AS  THE  ANGELS  OF  GOD  IN  THE  HEAV- 
ENS. " 


